Benjamin Button: Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss.
Benjamin Button, based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, works in the same way that Forrest Gump works. It features an entire lifetime (how many movies go to the trouble these days), and Benjamin is an ordinary, even simple man, living an extraordinary life. The other parallel is that both Gump and Button grew up in the South – vivid landscapes associated with harbors and storms, picket fences and cotton pickers, good food, good music and all the simple pleasures.
Mrs. Maple: Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?
Sombre as it sounds, this flick is about death. It’s also about the experience of living while those around us change, and die. This makes the setting for Button’s formative years all the more ironic, and appropriate, as he is raised in an old age home, and so enters the world with minimum ruckus, and is able to transition into society fairly smoothly.
For those smitten with Brad Pitt, prepare to spend most of this flick wishing he were younger, since the bulk of button showcases an infirm, but somewhat recognizable Pitt.
While the flick is charming, with many beautiful warm sequences and beautiful scenes that look like water color come to life, or living oil paintings, I thought an error was made in how quickly the baby grandpa grew legs. Almost instantaneously in the beginning, Benjamin has long gangly legs and is four foot tall. Well, what about being three foot tall, and two?
Queenie: Poor child, he got the worst of it. Come out white.
Brad Pitt provides a passable performance. There is no doubt that, in particular the youthful scenes of him on a sailboat, on a motorbike, and flitting all over the world, will resonate with youth-is-beauty- feeling in all of us, I find it difficult to detect much heart, and depth behind Pitt’s performances. He plays the angry young man well, but ever since Meet Joe Black, his deadpan performances (perhaps taking a leaf out of George Clooney’s book) have been too understated. In Button, the story makes up for this to a large extent, as do his co-stars.
Movie magic is used to render the already gorgeous Daisy (Cate Blanchett) as a young, stunning ballerina, and her transformation to old maid, it has to be said, is a lot more credible than Pitt’s broomstick haired scarecrow guy. Tilda Swinton also plays a memorable role, as do many other minor characters (especially Button’s Momma, a touching performance by Taraji P. Henson) – but all are encapsulated in a poignant closing message.
There are also a number of humorous asides, including the man who gets struck by lightning bolts, and how a day can be comprised of chances leading up to a critical moment.
While the themes of luck and chance from Gump (Life is like a box of chocolates) resurface in Button, it has to be said that they need to resurface, like memories from a diary, because of the importance meaning and living should have for us.
Benjamin Button: Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance.
The ironies in Button are charming, and are well worth contemplating – more than once – to be sure.
Score: 8.5/10
Postscript: I usually don't like to refer to a different movie when reviewing a film. I did so here in a sly attempt to distract from the movie itself, and not to have to give away too much. One of my books - HOLIDAY - was reviewed as analogous to The Beach, and then the reviewer became disappointed when HOLIDAY went off in its own direction - how stupido is that?
Another point I'd like to make is simply this: if we are to enjoy life, does that mean visiting a brothel ought to be one of our experiences? Does a brothel epitomise the zenith of life? I can see how to makes good fodder for fairy tales, but in reality, the life of a prostitute and their workplace is a living nightmare of disease and criminality. If you have the guts and stomach for that, be my guest.
I suppose I don't see the harm in nice people going to those sort of establishments (as opposed to the usual fares), but chances are, if you're a nice person, you don't have a problem getting laid. And if you do have a problem, well maybe try to be nicer...?
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