Review: Benjamin Button

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (2008)
starring: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond, Faune A. Chambers, Jason Flemyng
dir. David Fincher


I had a debate with a friend a little while back about how far David Fincher would have to bend to receive attention from the Academy and get an Oscar. I felt that he'd have to make a film that is very un-Fincher to get any notice and my friend said that it is being Fincher that will get him the award.

I think I was right. As of now, a push is going for The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to be nominated and take the best picture of the year. Personally I think it will because it already won it several years ago when it was titled Forrest Gump (1994). However much I tried to put it out of my mind as I was watching it, the same thought kept creeping into my skull, "It's Forrest Gump!" This is not much of a shocker since it was written by Gump scribe Eric Roth, I just expected more from these guys.

I don't mean it as any kind of slam, I actually do enjoy Forrest Gump for what it is and I do enjoy this film for some of it's ideas. But it's not a David Fincher film as far as thematics go and to me it becomes disappointing because of that.

To me Fincher is the new and improved William Friedkin. He explores themes of aberration and obsession and that is what I want from him. So witnessing a film that deals with seizing life and how you're never too old to start living just seems like an awkward choice, very Zemeckis, and I don't really think Fincher buys into it entirely. The film never gets sappy enough for there to be any real emotional connection and it never delves into the darkness of human interaction to become a real Fincher film. This is a movie caught in the currents of confusion.

Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are both good. It's Pitt's best and he's helped along by the use of some amazing technology. The aging process used to move Benjamin backwards while time moves forwards is a real breakthrough. A real gasp happens not with some of the old Benjamin, but the Benjamin in his early twenties who looks just like Pitt did back in the Johnny Suede (1991) days. It's a marvel and instead of being distracting you feel the same awe and wonder that Blanchett's Daisy feels when she sees this young man standing in front of her. So I can't say if it's Pitt's talent or the help of computers that have given him such a subdued and emotional performance. I'll say Pitt, they guy deserves props for being more than pretty.

But the Forrest Gump thing keeps getting to me. It's structure is very similar, minus the flashback framing, the characters are very similar and the situations are very similar. From fighting in a war to continual encounters with people who will have moments in history, I find it hard to believe that it didn't seem to pop out to anybody early on. Unless it was an intentional move to make the film more pallatable for commercial audicences? If so, I guess they succedded then.

Some of the moments of quirk didn't really fit it. There is a sequence about fate that played like a clunky version of a Jean-Pierre Jeunet piece. It is an awkward moment that grinds the story to a halt and doesn't add anything. Also an old man relaying stories about being struck by lightning seven times, they only show five, seems to interrupt more than anything else. In a movie that tries to point out how odd things happen all the time, the odd things seem very out of place. We're willing to accept that Benjamin Button is aging backwards, you don't need to shove this conceit down our throat with whimsical side stories.

I'm not going to say it was a waste of time or that it's a bad movie. It has it's charm and is much stronger than I am giving it credit for. It is better than Gump, but I can't help and feel a little hurt. David Fincher is an amazing talent and an amazing voice. He is willing to look at the dark side of humanity and within it, ask questions and search for emotional resonance. This just doesn't happen to be one of those movies.

7 out of 10