bitterisataste . . . words and ramblings . . . v.6.0

Review of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

this entry brought to you by nine inch nails, "7 ghosts 1"

Shortly after Benjamin Button received 13 Oscar nominations (the record for the year), there seemed to be a backlash about it, that it was pure Hollywood schmaltz, and, moreover, that it was too Gump-y. Indeed, the writers of the Forrest Gump screenplay adaptation were responsible for the Buttons adaptation, but I found this complaint to be unfounded. Forest Gump was about a mentally disabled man who had fallen in love with a girl who, frankly, didn't deserve his love, and, along the way of getting her back, accidentally changed the world many times over. Benjamin Button isn't nearly that grandiose. In fact, when it comes right down to it, the life of the titular character isn't very complicated at all. And this is mostly what makes the movie work, despite it's extremely clever concept. Benjamin Button is a man a lot like you or I-- he grew up a generation or two before us, but his life isn't any more outstanding than anyone else's. You could complain that this is a downfall, that nothing of import much happens, but you would be entirely missing the point.

No, Brad Pitt probably didn't deliver an Oscar-worthy performance, but he is absolutely filled with that Brad Pitt magnetism at all times. He's irresistible to look at in, overflowing with charm and charisma. The difference between you or I and Benjamin Button is that Button's eyes seem constantly filled with wonderment-- experiencing youth as an old man and then, impossibly, getting better looking as he ages, being in better health than in the day before, Button seems this close to be overwhelmed at the very idea that he's alive, to be so lucky as to live in the world the rest of us live in. He doesn't exactly experience life as an outsider, but there's a sort of spectacle within him that Pitt nails. And Cate Blanchett, ever the performer, gives a quiet, almost understated performance as Daisy, the girl Button has loved all his life. Again, there's nothing outstanding about the character herself, and in many ways, her normalcy is an excellent example of love itself. She's an artist, but she's not the opposite of Button despite his down-home-y-ness. There's also Tilda Swinton, a brief affair Button has in his youth, who, despite her relatively small amount of time on screen, delivers a lasting impression of a woman who, despite success, is nowhere in her life where she'd like to be.

I've seen all the movies from 2008 that were up for Best Picture, and for my money, Benjamin Button was it. It's masterfully directed-- although Fight Club remains my favorite of director David Fincher's movies, Benjamin Button is so graceful and profound that it definitely feels like a once young auteur reaching a level of maturity that he doesn't need to feel the need to worry about style at all, and can instead focus on making a movie that seems effortless; Button has a look and feel to it that almost seems old-school Hollywood. In fact, a very good illustration of this is the astoundingly convincing special effects. The digital creation of "old Brad Pitt" is perfect, and the mapping of this creation onto a little person stand-in is absolutely seamless. There is never a moment in the first act that feels at all unconvincing, but, moreover, there's never any gee-whiz moments where the director had to show off his technology in a bash-you-in-the-face way. Fincher is confident in his storytelling skills to move the story forward, and the uncanny computer effects are more matter-of-fact. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button isn't just the best film of 2008, it is the makings of a classic, to be revered and put on critics top 100 lists of all-time best movies shortly in the future.
-------

with love from CRS @ 6:23 AM

Wednesday, June 24, 2009

0 Comments: