The Curious Case of Benjamin Button-Review #3

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film that I feel a lot of reviews that I read have missed important points about-or at least have not emphasized those points enough. I will discuss plot very briefly-Benjamin(played by Brad Pitt who is nominated for an Oscar for his role as the title character) is "born under unusual circumstances". He is a man whose body is born with a surreal twist-he is born "aging" biologically in reverse. His mother is lost in childbirth, and his Father is unable to process or deal with the sight of the shriveled and hideous-looking baby with all the physical impediments of not an infant, but usual for a man in his mid to late eighties. Moments after Benjamin is born, his father grabs him and bolts in a frenzy, finally leaving his son on a front step of a nursing home. It is lucky for Benjamin that he is found moments after being left there by Queenie(a shy black woman who more or less runs the nursing home and desires a child). She is taken aback at first, of course, but takes Benjamin in as her own; and despite the appearance and freakish condition of the child loves him and views him as one of God's children and names him. As Benjamin grows and matures psychologically and mentally, he meets Daisy-his love (they are about seven when they both meet). Benjamin and Daisy have frequent separations but are drawn back together through insurmountable odds because they are simply the most important person to each other. As the signs of "age" melt from Benjamin's body, his adventures pile up (from being a tugboat hand to world traveler) and due to his innocence and backwardness serves as basically a foil to Daisy's public and accomplished character. He is solitary and his adventures-however fabulous are out of the spotlight. She dances in a ballet troupe. He is given the opportunity to observe from afar her professional successes-and admire them-but is no less drawn to the most mundane details about her. When she suffers catastrophe, he is constant. As his situation takes its toll, she is there to look after him. All of the story is told in flashback to Daisy and Benjamin's daughter by Daisy and through Benjamin's diary. I will just say that the other characters Benjamin meets in the story are varied and serve many a purpose in many wonderful ways; and I could go into the film's metaphors for hours and hours (no surprise here since the film's screen play is adapted from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novella. Fitzgerald is a serial metaphor user!)

As far as the visual art aspect of the film goes, The Cinematography is as well-done about the film as anything else. The Cinematographer, Claudio Miranda has worked his way up from being a gaffer in other films to Cinematographer-AND HOW. He has created a Cinematic masterpiece(check out camera and aspect details at: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421715/technical -it is completely digitally filmed). The scenes of the South can almost be smelled-the picture is so mellow and entrancing. Scenes of Brad as Benjamin motor-biking against the southern backdrop or Cate as Diasy in her pre-accident (woops-spoiler)bohemian dance world are emblazoned in my mind. Along with Miranda's cinematography, the make-up and special effects deserve a mention. Cate's make-up was particularly well-done.

Finally, the important points that I hinted at in the beginning of this review-the ones I felt neglected by other reviews-are varied. I will mention three:

1. I was struck by the quite subtle way the film dealt with the idea of relationships and Love (among other things)being infinite (the fabulous metaphor of a hummingbird and its flight-ability to fly backward and forward and the figure eight flight pattern as a symbol of infinity kick in here). Also-Benjamin, as he comforts the wonderfully colorful Charater "Captain Mike" moments after Mike is wounded in battle (Benjamin has a brief but dramatic stint in WWII) tells Mike that he will have a "good spot in Heaven". But since the "time" element of the story is so pervasie on the surface level, I think these things were ignored. Too bad. They, to me, were the meaning of the film.

2. WHAT THE........CATE NOT NOMINATED??????

TRAVESTY!!!!!!! >:-/

3. Tilda was also AWESOME. Her aspect to the story is such a hopeful and heroic aspect. It is NEVER too late.

I really enjoyed this film. It has thirteen Oscar nominations-Best Picture, Brad for Best Actor, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography........................Yeah. Go see it. The only thumbs down point that I really couldn't ignore was the wierdness of the situation with Daisy and Benjamin when they first meet etc.-the age issue and everything. Even though Benjamin was psychologically and mentally her age........it was just kind of something that was impossible to suspend disbelief about! Creepy-but creepiness was not aimed for. I give this film 3.5 out of 4 stars.

Thanks again to Kaz and also to LuAnn for a fun movie night!!!!! :-)