The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - B+

In theaters December 25th. Rated R, 167 minutes. Trailer.

Life and its moments are fleeting, appreciate them while you can. Such is the theme of Director David Fincher's new film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Starring a nimble Brad Pitt in the title role and a resplendent Cate Blanchett as his life-long love, the film follows the life of a man that is aging in reverse - born as a baby that looks and has the body of a little old man - as he gets older, his body gets younger. The film is based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story of the same name which was adapted for the screen by Eric Roth (Forrest Gump, The Insider, Munich). The film is a marvel to watch, both technically perfect and beautiful in its soft hues and soft lighting. Click below for more on a disappointing BUTTON:

Trouble is, there's no 'there' there - it feels sentimental for the sake of sentimentality. Through all its melodramatic music and calculated teargusher moments, the film fails to strike a chord deep enough to justify its efforts. It has been said that Eric Roth lost his parents while writing this script and that his grief and sense of loss are imbedded therein. Apparently, he also lost his memory and incorporated 40% of Forrest Gump into this screenplay. An isolated young boy (with trouble walking) growing up with only a mother to raise him in a house full of strangers in the South? Check. An eccentric and colorful ship captain that tells a naive young man about the world? Check. A far-flung life long love that spurns him at most every turn? Check. Touchstone moment set to an iconic 60's musician's appearance on tv? Check. Use of hokey catchphrase to put the thesis of the film out there as clearly as possible (FG: "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're gonna get" - TCBB: "You never know what's comin'"). And the list goes on and on. These and the other similarities bugged me the whole time and really handicapped the film.

My favorite part of the film is at the very beginning - the sequence describing the grieving clockmaker that made a clock that ran backwards. It is heartfelt and involves bravura filmmaking from Fincher with reverse frames and war scenes. The first third of the film shows Benjamin as a child growing up and getting slowly younger, all along being told he could die at any minute. After his mother died during childbirth (on the last day of WWI) he is abandoned by his father. This experience, along with growing up in an old folks home, allows him to have a perspective on life that sucks the marrow out of the bones of life and live every minute to the fullest. He is always on an even keel, never being flustered or extremely emotional. The 'old' character is Pitt's face CGI'd onto another actors body, and it works very well. I did not notice any of it and the whole thing is pulled off expertly. It is at this stage of his life that he meets the 7 year old Daisy and their connection is immediate.

As Pitt gets into adolescence, he looks like a 65 year old man (instead of the 80 year old he looked like at birth) and he starts to explore the world. He starts working, 'meeting' women and unknowingly befriends his father, Mr. Button. He joins the crew of a working ship and travels the world with a rag-tag crew led by a colorful captain. They end up in Russia for a long stint, where the ever changing Benjamin has an interesting and fleeting affair with a married woman (Tilda Swinton). Their scenes are interesting, tender, and shot with amazing beatuy (especially the shot with the beaded lamp). Benjamin and Daisy start to realize their attraction and the closing age gap makes it within their grasp. Two of my other favorite scenes are when Daisy is home from New York and the two are on a late night walk (the photo at the beginning is from this night) and the unannounced visit by Benjamin to New York to visit Daisy - her reception and his response are the best snapshots of the ignorance and vitality of youth and the cirumspection of old age.

As Fincher bring the movie home, it wobbles. Benjamin gets younger and everybody gets teary as the age gap begins to grow again after it goes away for a brief moment. There are several emotional moments that even I was affected by - but my feelings were produced by my parental inclinations and not necessarily the power of the film.

Fincher/Roth use a clunky narrative device showing Daisy on her deathbed in New Orleans on the eve of Hurricane Katrina being comforted by her daughter, First Knight's Julia Ormond. Ormond reads Benjamin's diary (for the first time) to Daisy and the story plays out.

All that said, I was disappointed with the film. My expectations were sky-high and the film did not meet them. I found the writing lazy and hammy and the aformentioned Gump similarities bothered me too much. There are some funny moments (lightning strikes) and lots of pretty pictures and sequences (my other favorite is the "chaos theory" sequence involving an accident Daisy is in) that will blow you (especially Fincher-phile Doc) away.

Other random thoughts and observations: The make up in the film is the best I've ever seen - for both Pitt and Blanchett. Blanchett gives a great lived in, dancerish performance. She moves like a dancer throughout and feels her character. I loved the nighttime fireworks for its cinematography and the battle at sea scene is intense and will have you ducking bullets. The hummingbird device at the end rang VERY hollow for me and gave one last Gump-ism - Feather dropping in Gump, Hummingbird flying in Button. A must see, but don't get your hopes up.