The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

 Starring- Brad Pitt, Kate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Mahershala Ali, and Tilda Swinton.

Directed By- David Fincher.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Benjamin Button- "I hope that you live a life that you're proud of. If you find that you're not, I hope you find the courage to start all over again".

I found this to be an interesting film; Yes, it's slow, especially by today's movie standards, but it's certainly a unique story and it's nicely filmed, acted, and directed. Story-wise, it's one of those films I understand if people love it or hate it. For a movie that runs for over 2 hours and 40 minutes and is not some suspense or action film, it has to be pretty good to hold one's interest.



 The film demands you to feel not only for the death we witness but for the incredible life we discover. It prays on the obvious morality issues we all deal with but also dangles the idea in front of us that everyone goes through the same joys and grievances, just not in the same way. This is a momentous tale that deserves nothing less than the title of brilliance.

The cast does nothing wrong. Pitt leads with Blanchett and a strong performance from Taraji P. Henson as Benjamin's surrogate mother Queenie, the only person in the world who seems to understand and truly love him from the start. Other cameos along the way bring a large array of characters, including Tilda Swinton, one of Benjamin's early love interests.



Brad Pitt's performance in the title role. An actor who, ever since his twitchy, neurotic, paranoid Jeffrey Goines in 12 MONKEYS, has never ceased to amaze us and certainly does not disappoint as the soft-spoken Button. Kate Blanchett as Daisy is superb! The singularity of the nature of her relationship with Button allows her to take the audience into an uncharted cinematic territory and, oh, what a delicate and sophisticated journey she takes us on! Tilda Swinton was wonderful to watch as Button's short-lived love interest. Her presence was magical and a joy to watch. I would have loved to see just a little bit more of her character.

The direction in the film is almost flawless. Fincher winds this clock so well and with such grace that the movie has this undeniable flow that is enjoyable from start to finish. At nearly 3 hours, there is not a minute wasted. Every shot is jaw-dropping and while some will find an issue with the time, it is used wisely. Perhaps one of the most original concepts to arrive on the screen in the past two decades!



 The screenplay of Eric Roth was written very well as he has had experience with these types of movies. In many scenes the dialog and great direction combined for some epic scenes.  You know you're looking at Brad Pitt's face on an actor who is probably about 10 yrs old, with CGI and makeup all doing their best, but you're just not interested in thinking about that. Subjective of course, that's just what I felt.

If you get the chance, I highly recommend The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, this movie was just incredible in its scope, story, setting, and actors. David Fincher took what could have been just a small treasure and made it into something incredible. This was one of the saddest love stories I have seen in a long time. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button carried its love story throughout and made you really pity this couple that you know can't have much of a future together. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are absolutely beautiful in this movie along with a great supporting cast, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a movie not to be missed.

My Rating- 8.5/10.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Pianist (2002)

Image
  Starring - Adrien Brody, Emilia Fox, Thomas Kretschmann, Frank Finaly, Ed Stoppard. Directed by - Roman Polanski. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Władysław Szpilman-  “The life of a human being, let alone his personal freedom, is a matter of no importance. But the love of freedom is native to every human being and every nation, and cannot be suppressed in the long term. History teaches us that tyranny has never endured. And now we have blood-guilt on our conscience for the dreadful injustice of murdering the Jewish inhabitants.” Everything that happens in this film is so sad. Especially if you are a history buff. Please, I think this film should be in the top 10 best films of all time. World War II is one of the most frightening wars in history, if you read more about The Holocaust, you get more into it and you should. If you are not interested, then watch this film. It's a must see, otherwise how els...
Read more

The Irishman (2019)

Image
Starring- Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, Ray Romano and Al Pacino.  Directed By- Martin Scorsese ----------------------------------------------------- Jimmy Hoffa - "I heard you paint houses" Frank Sheeran:  Yes. Yes, sir, I do. I do. And I, uh, I also do my own carpentry. If you are a fan of watching crime, gangster movies which are based on a true story then The Irishman is the best thing to binge. And in order to fully appreciate the movie, you gotta watch it more than once. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro yet again collaborate to present a masterpiece.  The best thing about The Irishman is that it keeps you on the edge despite being a 210 minutes long movie. The CGI in the movie is absolutely perfect. Over the period of 50 years being shown in the movie, you can easily recognise the change in the characters facial expressions (De Niro and Joe Pesci).  The story revolves around Frank Sheeran (De Niro) who started as a truck driver, then gets recruited by Russell Ba...
Read more

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Image
 Starring- Ralph Fiennes, Tony Revolori, Aiden Brody, Edward Norton, Sairose Rogan, Bill Murray, Jeff Goldblum, Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Harvey Keitel, Jude Law, F. Murray Abraham, and Owen Wilson. Directed By- Wes Anderson. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ M. Gustave- " She Needs Me, And I Need You, To Help Me With My Bags And So On." Welcome to the Grand Budapest Hotel. We recount the story of a lobby boy and the main concierge of the titular hotel who gets in way over their heads. This is personally my favourite Wes Anderson movie out of all his inspiring creations. I love how the movie is divided into chapters and how each has a straightforward storyline driving it forward. There is humour, romance, absurdness and generally breathtaking, meticulously-constructed scenes as usual. From the start of the film it is clear that you are watching a Wes Anderson film. The colour palette and set design are obvious visual clues for t...
Read more