The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a very good film. The script is very good, the acting very good and the directing likewise. That’s the problem though, everything is simply very good. There’s little to be found that you could label transcendent or extraordinary about this film. The film pulls us in and does a wonderful job of maintaining our interest, but it never succeeds in truly taking us to a higher place. Unlike the title character, the film never goes backward, but it doesn’t really go forward either. It starts off as a very good film and ends that way too.
Anyone who questions the plausibility of the movie is an idiot. It’s not supposed to be plausible. As the magical title suggests, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fairytale. One thing that director David Fincher does superbly is maintain this fairytale feel throughout the film. The narration of the film (a common aspect of fairytales) and the occasional dry humour help maintain the fantastical nature of the film, and pleasantly reminds the viewer that we shouldn’t be taking this (and nor does it take itself) too seriously. We aren’t beaten over the head with humour though; when it comes it is subtle and appropriate.
The area where Button falls short is setting up the romance of the two main characters. I don’t buy for a second that a near perfect little girl could fall for a hideous beast, but if their was some evidence of attraction I’d be willing to buy into the premise for the sake of the fairytale. But there is no evidence. We go from Benjamin and Daisy being acquainted with each other, too madly in love with each other with no in-between. Why does Daisy feel this way about Benjamin? We get little indication of the attraction in the beginning and Daisy only begins to love Benjamin when he turns into Golden Boy Brad Pitt, which is another conversation.
The acting in Benjamin Button has been lavished with monumental praise. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are both early Oscar contenders. The praise is a little overdone. Blanchett, as always, is very solid in her role. Like everyone else in the film, she does a decent job with the New Orleans accent, and she makes us believe in Daisy. The so-called ‘revelation’ of the film though is that Brad Pitt can act. It’s hardly a revelation, Pitt has quietly been one of the best actors of his generation. He’s not quite Ed Norton or Kevin Spacey, but he’s the next rung down. Overshadowed by commercial big budget turns in Troy, Mr and Mrs Smith and Ocean’s Eleven, is the fact that Brad Pitt can really act. His roles in 12 Monkeys and of course Fight Club were both Oscar worthy. He’s versatile and he commands the screen. Benjamin Button isn’t Pitt’s finest work and it’s not even close. Sure he’s good in it, but he’s too low key, almost to the point of being boring. And it never really seems like he captures the essence of Benjamin’s character. The mark of a good film is often how good the supporting cast is, and in Benjamin Button it’s one of the highlights. The characters in the elderly home are wonderfully charismatic, and the performances in particular by the actors playing the respective roles of Benjamin’s father and his foster mother are brilliant.
Maybe the main talking point of the film has been the way it, and in particular Brad Pitt, looks. First of all, from an aesthetic standpoint the film looks phenomenal. The cinematography seems to capture each and every era that we pass through perfectly. We can tell with little degree of difficulty that we’ve moved from the swinging 50s to the freedom of the 60s. The make-up job on Brad Pitt is fantastic. As an old man he’s almost unrecognisable, but not to the degree that we can’t tell the character bears some resemblance to Pitt. It gets a little shaky when Benjamin reaches his 50s; Pitt looks a little too crusty, but other than that it’s smooth sailing. The most incredible moment of the film (and the one occasion where it might in fact take us to a higher place) comes when we see Benjamin in his late teens to early 20s, and he looks exactly like Brad Pitt just at that age. It’s amazing how impressive the job done on Brad Pitt is, the natural look achieved is incredible.
Some might complain of the lengthy nature of the film (clocks in at just under three hours), but the fact is that a good film can never go on for too long, and Benjamin Button is just that – a good film. The length doesn’t hamper the film, in fact a reduced running time would almost certainly have hampered it - at its length the story has time to breathe. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a perfect film by any means. There’s a few things that could be improved upon (I still don’t understand what the intended symbolism of Hurricane Katrina in the background was), but for the most part the film hits the mark and does so with poignancy. It's not quite Best Picture material, it lacks the extra something that The Departed and No Country for Old Men had in spades (and even Crash to a lesser degree), but lesser pictures have taken home the statue, some of which have not been very good films. And Benjamin Button may be just that, but I can't help but feel an opportunity was missed.
Anyone who questions the plausibility of the movie is an idiot. It’s not supposed to be plausible. As the magical title suggests, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a fairytale. One thing that director David Fincher does superbly is maintain this fairytale feel throughout the film. The narration of the film (a common aspect of fairytales) and the occasional dry humour help maintain the fantastical nature of the film, and pleasantly reminds the viewer that we shouldn’t be taking this (and nor does it take itself) too seriously. We aren’t beaten over the head with humour though; when it comes it is subtle and appropriate.
The area where Button falls short is setting up the romance of the two main characters. I don’t buy for a second that a near perfect little girl could fall for a hideous beast, but if their was some evidence of attraction I’d be willing to buy into the premise for the sake of the fairytale. But there is no evidence. We go from Benjamin and Daisy being acquainted with each other, too madly in love with each other with no in-between. Why does Daisy feel this way about Benjamin? We get little indication of the attraction in the beginning and Daisy only begins to love Benjamin when he turns into Golden Boy Brad Pitt, which is another conversation.
The acting in Benjamin Button has been lavished with monumental praise. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are both early Oscar contenders. The praise is a little overdone. Blanchett, as always, is very solid in her role. Like everyone else in the film, she does a decent job with the New Orleans accent, and she makes us believe in Daisy. The so-called ‘revelation’ of the film though is that Brad Pitt can act. It’s hardly a revelation, Pitt has quietly been one of the best actors of his generation. He’s not quite Ed Norton or Kevin Spacey, but he’s the next rung down. Overshadowed by commercial big budget turns in Troy, Mr and Mrs Smith and Ocean’s Eleven, is the fact that Brad Pitt can really act. His roles in 12 Monkeys and of course Fight Club were both Oscar worthy. He’s versatile and he commands the screen. Benjamin Button isn’t Pitt’s finest work and it’s not even close. Sure he’s good in it, but he’s too low key, almost to the point of being boring. And it never really seems like he captures the essence of Benjamin’s character. The mark of a good film is often how good the supporting cast is, and in Benjamin Button it’s one of the highlights. The characters in the elderly home are wonderfully charismatic, and the performances in particular by the actors playing the respective roles of Benjamin’s father and his foster mother are brilliant.
Maybe the main talking point of the film has been the way it, and in particular Brad Pitt, looks. First of all, from an aesthetic standpoint the film looks phenomenal. The cinematography seems to capture each and every era that we pass through perfectly. We can tell with little degree of difficulty that we’ve moved from the swinging 50s to the freedom of the 60s. The make-up job on Brad Pitt is fantastic. As an old man he’s almost unrecognisable, but not to the degree that we can’t tell the character bears some resemblance to Pitt. It gets a little shaky when Benjamin reaches his 50s; Pitt looks a little too crusty, but other than that it’s smooth sailing. The most incredible moment of the film (and the one occasion where it might in fact take us to a higher place) comes when we see Benjamin in his late teens to early 20s, and he looks exactly like Brad Pitt just at that age. It’s amazing how impressive the job done on Brad Pitt is, the natural look achieved is incredible.
Some might complain of the lengthy nature of the film (clocks in at just under three hours), but the fact is that a good film can never go on for too long, and Benjamin Button is just that – a good film. The length doesn’t hamper the film, in fact a reduced running time would almost certainly have hampered it - at its length the story has time to breathe. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a perfect film by any means. There’s a few things that could be improved upon (I still don’t understand what the intended symbolism of Hurricane Katrina in the background was), but for the most part the film hits the mark and does so with poignancy. It's not quite Best Picture material, it lacks the extra something that The Departed and No Country for Old Men had in spades (and even Crash to a lesser degree), but lesser pictures have taken home the statue, some of which have not been very good films. And Benjamin Button may be just that, but I can't help but feel an opportunity was missed.
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