The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Review

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Movie Review

What would you do if you were born old and progressively getting younger? Go to see adult movies when you're seven, apply for a free bus pass at age ten and dazzle school teachers with the depths of your knowledge at age sixty? Well, David Fincher's latest offering explores exactly this territory, telling the story of a man growing younger in appearance as he ages. It’s an interesting proposition, one that's taken years to get to the screen, but does the finished product reflect this effort? The answer is a yes, but without an accompanying vigorous nod.

Benjamin Button is born on the day that World War I ended, to a family in New Orleans. His mother dies in childbirth and when his father finds out that he's sired the wrinkliest heir in Christendom he abandons his son on a nearby doorstep. The child is taken in by Queenie, a young black woman running a local nursing home, who decides to raise him partly because she can't have children of her own.

Act one takes its time getting out of the starting blocks. The backwards-aging baby is expositioned to death given that it’s presumably what most audience members have paid to see. The initial clunkiness straightens itself out though once Benjamin settles into his daily routine at the retirement home.

The heavy use of special effects distracts from an otherwise fine performance from Pitt. He comes into his own once released from all the computer generated trickery and chose well in downplaying Benjamin, letting his unusual life events and the multitudinous effects take centre stage.

The idea of following one man's extraordinary life felt a little Forrest Gump-y, which made sense when I found out that both screenplays were written by the same screenwriter; Eric Roth. The film does feel a bit like Gump a deux at times, but it's ultimately saved by its well thought out and engaging structure. In addition to aging backwards, events in Benjamin's life play themselves out in reverse. So, he grows up in an old folks home, has an affair with a married woman in his (chronological) twenties and becomes a free spirited traveller, tooling around on a motorbike in later life.

The movie has been nominated for 13 Academy Awards including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor for Pitt. I personally feel that the highest award that will be picked up will be Best Supporting Actress for Taraji Henderson who played Queenie. See my other Oscar picks here

Although not as enjoyable as Zodiac, Fincher's last movie, this is still a recommend for me. The schmaltz gets a little out of control at times (in particular look out for scenes involving a hummingbird), but this grave to cradle epic stands up well if you discount hype and Oscar buzz.

7.5/10