For me, a movie needs have a certain element of extraordinary luck or believable fiction in order to achieve the purpose of entertainment. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button follows the ludicrous yet fantastical storyline of a man who ages backwards. This premise alone can be used for a novella, like F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 short story, or a feature length film just under three hours, like David Fincher's 2008 movie. Regardless, either way of storytelling introduces a curious concept.
What I liked best about the film was the setup and love story. To have Benjamin grow younger in the cultural hotbed of New Orleans was a nice touch, as he gets to meet all sorts of people. The character development of the others through Benjamin's intriguing perspective in the journal he left behind truly drove the movie for the first hour or so. What powered the story for the rest of the running time was his relationship with his childhood friend, Daisy. With the obvious age difference of an old man with a young girl, there was no romance, just pure friendship. As the two met half way, the romance took off. Benjamin was wise and Daisy no longer naive.
To tell the entirety of the story in a short blog post would be an injustice to the film and all involved with the story. Simply put, love supersedes time. This simple message is engraved into a lengthy film, decorated with intriguing tangents, believable characters, and special effects and make up to make the entire work on screen as believable as possible to the eye. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett both deliver performances that their careers will be remembered by. If you haven't seen this film, I highly recommend you watch it and I hope that this post was enough to whet your appetite. If you have seen the film, thank you. We can both share the touching, magical story that was so elegantly put forth on the silver screen. Conclusion: Must See
Rating: 9/10
