Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a melancholy film that reiterates that life is brief and nothing is forever. It's all star cast includes Cate Blanchett and Brad Pitt.
It might be unintentional, but this movie struck me as a "Forest Gump" / "Titanic" type movie. They are all love stories that more or less revolve around major/tragic events. There is a severely limited time the happy lovers are allowed to have together. And of course they have tragic endings.
Benjamin Button is a child born as a monster, or so his Father believed. Abandoning him at the steps of a nursing home, he was brought up by a couple who could not have a child of their own. Instead of being a monster, Ben actually lives in reverse. He started off old, and got younger as time passed.
This is actually not a bad way to live - as you get all the achy crappy stuff out of the way before you know any better, then you get younger and more able to do things as you go along. Think of it as a fix for "youth is lost on the young"
Anyway, as I type this, I'm reminded of what a wise man once said:
It might be unintentional, but this movie struck me as a "Forest Gump" / "Titanic" type movie. They are all love stories that more or less revolve around major/tragic events. There is a severely limited time the happy lovers are allowed to have together. And of course they have tragic endings.
Benjamin Button is a child born as a monster, or so his Father believed. Abandoning him at the steps of a nursing home, he was brought up by a couple who could not have a child of their own. Instead of being a monster, Ben actually lives in reverse. He started off old, and got younger as time passed.
This is actually not a bad way to live - as you get all the achy crappy stuff out of the way before you know any better, then you get younger and more able to do things as you go along. Think of it as a fix for "youth is lost on the young"
Anyway, as I type this, I'm reminded of what a wise man once said:
Quote:
“The most unfair thing about life is the way it ends. I mean, life is tough. It takes up a lot of your time. What do you get at the end of it? A death. What’s that, a bonus? I think the life cycle is all backwards. You should die first, get it out of the way. Then you live in an old age home. You get kicked out when you’re too young, you get a gold watch, you go to work. You work forty years until you’re young enough to enjoy retirement. You drink alcohol, you party, and you get ready for High School. You go to grade school, you become a kid, you play, you have no responsibilities, you become a little baby, you go back into the womb, you spend your last 9 months floating… then you finish off as an orgasm! Amen.”
- George Carlin
It really makes me wonder if this movie was based off a Carlin quote.
What makes this movie interesting even if you don't care for the plot, the dialog, or anything else, is watching to see "what's next". In most films the majority of the footage is centered around a specific time. If many years go by, they switch actors, or switch to different characters. In this film, we're watching the two main characters from cradle to grave, so only for about 20 minutes do they appear without makeup or CG.
This was a good movie. I don't think it was as good as either Titanic or Forest Gump, but it brought to the table some unique thought provoking situations that the other two didn't have. So I'm not going to give a blow by blow review. You'll know if this is up your ally or not without a full synopsis.
What makes this movie interesting even if you don't care for the plot, the dialog, or anything else, is watching to see "what's next". In most films the majority of the footage is centered around a specific time. If many years go by, they switch actors, or switch to different characters. In this film, we're watching the two main characters from cradle to grave, so only for about 20 minutes do they appear without makeup or CG.
This was a good movie. I don't think it was as good as either Titanic or Forest Gump, but it brought to the table some unique thought provoking situations that the other two didn't have. So I'm not going to give a blow by blow review. You'll know if this is up your ally or not without a full synopsis.
Total Comments 3
Comments
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It was a very nice PRODUCTION, but there were too many holes in this story. Jason and I laid awake in bed talking about it for a while.
SPOILER ALERT
What bothered both of us was the way the story treated the birth of Ben's baby daughter, and the way Daisy treated Ben afterwards. While she was pregnant, the couple was naturally concerned the baby would have his 'disorder'. But when their infant was born perfectly normal, Ben decided to abandon mother and child. It would be "better" for them as Daisy should not have to raise two children. Well, the hole in that theory was, Ben and Daisy have "met in the middle". She is 43, he is 49 when the baby is born. If he's moving backwards, when the baby reached the age of 21, Ben would be chronologically 70 but appear to be 28. But he sells all of his material goods and gives Daisy the money, and leaves on his motorcycle, traipsing the world while Daisy runs her dance studio, remarries, and raises their daughter. Ben shows up when the daughter is a young teen, and apparently he's gotten younger, faster - he looks to be about 18 himself. He faces the future as a homeless child. Daisy asks him what he's going to do, and he doesn't know. So after visiting him for a quick roll in the hay in his hotel room, she walks away - apparently without offering any of the financial help he so generously gave to her years before. A few years later child-like Ben is found in terrible shape in an abandoned building. He is showing signs of old age dementia even though he has the body of a 12 year old. Daisy, now a widow, moves herself into the old age home and takes care of Ben as he ages down to a newborn baby. Does no one NOTICE Grandma caring for a young child in an old age home and investigate the situation? Apparently not.
Jason and I were also uncomfortable with the idea that Ben was born looking like a miniature old man, with arthritis, hardening of the arteries, etc, but a child's mind... and when he was old and physically a child, his mind was lost to the symptoms of Alzheimer's. If the physical ravages of age were reversed, then he should have had Alzheimer's as a child, and improved with age. It would have been much more interesting to see a very sharp minded toddler - all the wisdom of 80 years of life, but none of the infirmities.
Looking into the movie I find it was taken from a short story written by F. Scott Fitzgerald while he was a student at Princeton. That would explain the immaturity of the storyline... the Curious Case of Benjamin Button can be found on http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext04/8tjzz10.txtPosted 12-30-2008 at 09:42 AM by flourbug 
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http://www.scene-stealers.com/blogs/...-forrest-gump/Quote:A white man is born fatherless in the south with birth defects that lead many to think he may never walk nor live a normal life. His saintly mother believes in his potential anyway. At a young age, the man learns to walk and sheds his exoskeleton of locomotive aids. Around this time, he also meets the love of his life, a vivacious girl who grows into a bold woman who parts ways with the man to have her own wild adventures. Meanwhile, the man reaches adulthood, and puts in a wartime stint in the U.S. military. During this stint, the man proves at first an indifferent asset, but during his one firefight, he turns out to be very valuable, saving the day singlehandedly, while also witnessing the death of one of his best friends. The man also spends much time on a small ocean vessel, serving alongside a rowdy, grizzled, hard-drinking man of the sea. This salty sailor serves as one of our man’s two best male friends; the other is a black man who first teaches our man the lessons of friendship before departing forever.
Our man wanders all around the world, his life brushing up against key historical moments of the 20th century. At some point he returns to his childhood home, and his mother dies. The man comes into considerable wealth through blind luck. Around this time, his lifelong love returns from her adventures, ready to commit to him. During their brief time together, they conceive a child. The couple part ways, due to the woman’s perceived inability to take care of the man. He does not raise the child through its early years but later makes an appearance in its life. The woman eventually dies in bed from illness. The man’s later years are hardly touched on, even though the movie has lavished much attention on his early and middle years.
The entire story dwells repeatedly on the theme of life’s uncertainty and, in contrast, on the notion of fate or coincidence. The film’s symbol for these themes is a small object seen hovering improbably in the air. A narrative frame scene punctuates the story, as does the main character’s drawling voice-over.
Acceptable Answers:
Forrest Gump;
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.*
* Both movies were written by Eric Roth, a man who now owes me seventeen dollars.Posted 01-06-2009 at 04:27 PM by Fartacus 
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Read this short review at a Fark forum:
Quote:The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is long.
And slow.
And titless.Posted 01-07-2009 at 05:35 PM by Fartacus
