The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
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Released:08/06/2009
More Details
Studio:Warner Home Video
Director:David Fincher
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett
Running Time:165 minutes
Amazon.co.uk Review
The Oscars may have ultimately snubbed The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, outside of prizes for its extraordinary make-up, visual effects and art direction, but there’s a terrific film here that’s set to stand the test of time. Perhaps it’s one that deserved a few more golden statues too. It’s a curious tale certainly. It follows the title character, as he’s born old, and as he ages, his body gets younger. As the film progresses, he crosses with Cate Blanchett’s Daisy over the course of their respective lives, as their paths continually emotionally intertwine.
Based on the story by F Scott Fitzgerald, the film version of The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button owes much to its director, David Fincher. This feels every inch a labour of love project, and a technically astounding one at that, with every frame packed with detail. Furthermore, it’s impossible to see the joins between the computer work and the real life characters, and that means the focus can be fully on the absorbing story. If you can forgive the slightly clumsy wraparound to it, this is a wonderfully told tale, boasting some terrific acting performances and sumptuous direction.
It looks glorious in high definition too, boasting one of the finest 1080p transfers seen to date. It inevitably puts the special effects work under scrutiny, but the film passes the test effortlessly. The end result is a terrific piece of cinema, that looks and sounds simply outstanding. The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a Blu-ray very much worth owning, and is the kind of tale that’s set to be enjoyed for generations to come. --Jon Foster
Tags
Drama, Blu-ray
Reviews
- Beautiful
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button opens with a very elderly Cate Blanchett lying in a hospital bed just as she's about to die. She is with her daughter, Caroline (played by Julia Ormond - last seen with Brad Pitt in Legends of the Fall), and an old leather diary written by the eponymous Benjamin Button, stuffed with tickets and postcards and clippings and scraps of paper.
As she starts to read, the film swiftly transports us to early 1900s New Orleans, and the film quality takes on a pastel-shaded, crackly appearance and it's unbelievably beautiful and evocative. We're given the genesis of the film, as a clock-maker creates a magnificent clock that ticks backwards, reversing time.
It's soon after that that Benjamin is born, and born old. He has arthritis and cataracts and paper-like skin. His father leaves him on the stairs of an old people's home, and Benjamin is taken in by a warm, wonderful Creole woman who raises him as her own. There he falls in forever-love with Daisy... and she with him, despite his appearing as an elderly man, and she a child.
The film chronicles Benjamin's life, as written in his diary. Pitt narrates, much like he does in Interview With The Vampire... and that's not the only similarity between the two. The slightly other-wordly feel of N'Orleans decades ago is rampant in both; the richness and texture of the film is there, too.
The love story between Daisy (Cate Blanchett) and Benjamin Button is bittersweet and powerful. It's disorientating, watching one age as the other grows younger - it becomes easy to forget that they have loved one another for almost 80 years, and only been together for a time in the middle. One brief exchange very much clarifies it when he is now in his 20s, and she in her 50s:
Daisy: "You're so young..."
Benjamin: "Only on the outside."
It's a love story and a tragedy and a fantasy, beautifully and subtly done, with a backdrop of cultural events in America's history. These, though, are used to show the passage of time and to date Benjamin's life - they're a painting in the background and he plays no part in them.
It's a peaceful, gentle film, and it ponders life as it goes along. It's thoroughly beautiful in every way.
Brad Pitt is an actor who has mostly appeared in violent and non-indepth films like Se7en and Fight Club. But this is probably the most in-depth film ever made! Chronicling the life of the unusual Benjamin Button, it explores into the problems of today's society. The ending scene is a reminder of how many types of people there are in the world and that there is more good than bad and more law than crime. The ending scene is the also saddest because my mum cried like heck! The way that they have woven the story to give Button a very interesting life is also a one-off opportunity for viewers and the chronological and physical age timeline crossing is genius! Visual effects: 10/10. Story: 10/10. Acting: 10/10.
All in all, 10/10!
Upon first introduction of this film, we know that it is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The short story tells of a boy born as an old man who, within a few hours can talk and act as such. To avoid embarassment, Benjamins father forces him to dye his hair and play with the local children as a real child. All Benjamin wants to do is read, smoke cigars and have adult conversations as an adult would. Being a short story, you cannot really expect a feature film to be wholly adapted from it, you have to expect massive changes and extensions in order to present a worthwhile and fluid picture to be enjoyed by the masses. What would likely be a film under 1 hour long if it was adapted word for word from the story, we were presented with a treat of a 2 and a half hour story told from the death bed of an aged Cate Blanchett in a pre-hurricane New Orleans hospital.
To start off the story we are presented with a metaphorical plot device in the form of a train station clock running backwards, which was made as a hope that it would mean all the dead soldiers of the first world war could come home alive.
The story as told to Daisy (Cate Blanchett) by her daughter reading from a diary is that of Benjamin Button, an incredible man whos mother gave her life for and was abandoned by his father (Jason Flemyng). He was born with the appearance of an old man, with all the ailments to boot. He was left on the porch of a New Orleans nursing home to be found by one of the nurses known as Queenie (Taraji P. Nelson), she adopts him and christens him with the name Benjamin. Throughout his early childhood Benjamin is expected to die any day due to the illnesses he has and the way he looks, so is forced to live in the home as if her were one of the elderly relatives.
What Queenie starts to become aware of is that as Benjamin gets older, he does not get weaker and sicker as predicted but he's getting younger and fitter. Whilst still looking old but being about the age of 7 he meets a girl who is the daughter of one of the elderly residents known as Daisy. They become friends but cannot be around each other too much due to what he looks like (quite frankly I'm glad they didn't take it any further too early as it was a bit creepy). As Benjamin grows older, he meets his father again, but is not told who he is. He just thinks he is a friendly stranger who offered him a ride and a drink at a bar. Benjamin then moves out to enjoy the adventures of life and is forced to deal with some adult adventures he wouldn't experience if he looked his age.
What I can really say about this film with whole hearted honesty is that I absolutely loved it. From start to finish it felt genuine, the maternal love of Queenie for her adopted son came across as authentic thanks to the sublime acting of Taraji. The affair scene with Tilda Swintons character, (although I truly dislike the woman as she looks like someone who was repeatedly hit in the face with a dog by a tramp, and sounds like the queen if she smoked 5 packets of cigarettes a day) is done really well and you get the feeling that Benjamin (Pitt) is genuinely falling for her.
Apart from the main plot of Benjamin Button being quite heart wrenching at times, the sub plot of an aged Daisy keeping herself alive until the end of the story is told is quite something. The make up, setting and in some cases special effects all come together well to present a believable setting of a progressive early 1900s New Orleans. The superb performance of Taraji P. Nelson deserves special mention as she now shows the world some genuine acting talent. This has to be Pitts oscar win as for this role it would truly be deserved, however, I would not be surprised if it were highly overshadowed by 2008s biggest blockbusters.
Well to start off I must say what a great film. Didn't expect much from this at all but I was blown away by the way the story unfolds. There are so many standout moments in the film but the ending has to be one of the best endings I have seen to a movie for a long time. The way it pulls at your heart strings. I think that everyone should watch this movie, it won't appeal to everyone but if you like good movie-making at its highest quality then please watch it. I would easily put this in my top ten movies of all time. I haven't seen a movie as good as this at the cinema this year and quite frankly a lot of the films this year have been very disapointing in the extreme such as Wolverine!
This is also another showcase for how much better Blu-Ray is compared with DVD. The picture quality is superb and the sound also is brilliant. The extras on the disc are comprehensive in the extreme and I just think that you should buy this!! An incredible film buy it!
The other two films which Brad Pitt did with David Fincher are the modern classics Seven and Fight Club. Benjamin Button is a totally different film again in which Brad Pitt proves yet again that he is the most talented actor of his generation. I found the story to be very intriguing and at times a little upsetting. Benjamin Button when born is a baby whom is very old and as time goes by he is getting younger. This is a strange idea which makes many profound things happen in his life. The special features are extremely interesting in how they made Brad Pitt look much older and smaller then what he is in real life. The blu-ray picture is excellent and I feel Benjamin Button will become another classic over time as with the other two films Brad Pitt has done with David Fincher.
