The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Released: December 2008
Runtime: 166 minutes
Rated: PG-13

I can't remember which magazine cover I saw recently with a photo of Brad Pitt but I couldn't help but remark that Brad was definitely looking his age. Don't get me wrong, at 45 Mr. Pitt still looks great, but being about the same age it was refreshing to see Mr Pitt reflect his true age and not hidden behind some airbrushed Dorian Gray photo.

Now normally the appearance of Brad Pitt (or any other celebrity) on the cover of a magazine would give me little pause but after seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button I could not help but think that this was not a mere coincidence for Pitt's latest movie deals with aging and death, albeit in a very unusual way.

Adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 short story of the same name, the film tells the story of Benjamin Button, born at the end of World War I as an 80 year-old man who ages backwards.

Brad Pitt stars in The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Abandoned by his father at birth on the stairs of a local home for senior citizens, Benjamin is taken in and raised by Queenie a black care-giver at the home. This is somewhat of a meandering story as Benjamin continues to grown younger we see him going to sea, visiting a brothel, having a drink for the first time, having a love affair with the wife of a British diplomat (Tilda Swinton) and finally rekindling a relationship with his childhood acquaintance Daisy (Cate Blanchett).

And while Benjamin's various adventures keeps the audience entertained and interested, the one element that is missing in all this is why Benjamin just happens to be born as an old man and why his life is in reverse. Perhaps we are never meant to know why but as the movie came to its natural conclusion one couldn't help but be a little disappointed in never really understanding why Benjamin is who he is.

The premise actually reminded me a little bit of the 2002 hit Memento with its story told in reverse but unlike Benjamin Button we at least are let in on why the Memento story unfolds the way it does. I suppose in the end it is just a clever way to tell a rather grand story about life, love, youth, aging and death.

The visual effects here are quite stunning as Pitt moves through his life backwards. As the diminutive 80 year old "baby" through to the 19-year old you can definitely see Pitt here and it must have been quite the eye-opener for him to see what he might look like in another forty or so years.

Director David Finch does a great job of moving us through Benjamin's 80 years from the beginning of the 20th century through to modern day and captures the essence of the time for each of the highlighted times and places without being too heavy handed. And while the almost three hour movie meanders somewhat through Benjamin's life, Finch does conjure up some really interesting characters that helps to sustain us to the end.

It will be interesting come Oscar night whether The Curious Case of Benjamin Button walks away with any of the major awards. I predict that while an entertaining flick, despite its length, Benjamin Button will be more memorable for having magically transformed Brad Pitt to an 80 year old man through visual effects than as a piece of cinematic genius.