I’d not heard about this movie until Indiana Jones was released and people started talking about having seen the trailer in front of that film. International version of the trailer is up now, and it looks interesting.
“I was born under unusual circumstances.” And so begins “Benjamin Button,” adapted from the classic 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards. A man, like any of us, unable to stop time. We follow his story set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the twenty-first century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man’s life can be. Directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett with Tilda Swinton, Taraji P. Henson, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Julia Ormond, “Benjamin Button,” is a time traveler’s tale of the people and places he bumps into along the way, the loves he loses and finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.
I’ve been waiting to hear more on this movie for a while, since I’m a fan of David Fincher’s stuff (Seven, Fight Club) and this is a third go-round for him with Pitt.
I saw this trailer yesterday before Indy 4, though, and it didn’t do too much for me. Hopefully it was just a lame trailer.
There was actually an update about that in the last couple of months. It was more along the lines of “not abandoned” than “shooting”, but that’s something.
I have a good friend who is one of the assitant editors on this. He says it’s pretty cool. It’s a really complex movie, technically, since he’s aging backward. Plus, he’s gotten to talk to Brad, which makes me another degree closer to his wife.
There is a whole lot of that sentiment. And I’ve seen some sentiment that the film is pointless. And some that Brad Pitt is, well, uh, Brad Pitt (in other words, anyone could do what he does).
This really is a… well… a curious movie. It presents itself simply as a story, it doesn’t infer or imply any added significance. The emotive power it generates comes directly from the tale itself and its ability to create and transport the viewer on this journey. It kind of reminded me of Pitt’s last movie Assassination of Jesse James in the way it digresses and travels along a lengthy path to completely sum up a man’s life and the joys and tragedies found within. Of course, it also had a touch of Forrest Gump (the sense of historical context) and a bit of Big Fish (the whimsical fantasy).
In the end, there is a real sense of sadness that sort of sneaks up on you, as you learn about the life of Benjamin and the people he knew and the things that he experienced. All in all, a very even tempered movie that doesn’t really completely wow you like other recent epics but doesn’t fail to engage.
