Review
Review Date: 28-December-08
Spoiler Rating: Medium
Juju Judgment: Jubilation!
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
It is a sad moment in a person's life. She has been cast by magic into a trance where life and death, love and loneliness appear breathtakingly beautiful and then, Bam!, she stumbles back into the dirty, noisy, rushing world where the spell is inevitably broken. I experienced just such a sense of loss upon leaving The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. But I would be missing its message if I were not grateful for having seen such a lovely piece of art.
That such a piece came from the man who made Seven and Fight Club is a surprise. I admire the latter movie but would not have thought David Fincher capable of putting forth so much gentle and affecting wisdom. Working from a script by Eric Roth (minimally derived from a story by F. Scott Fitzgerald), Fincher covers the entire history of a man who is born with the physical traits of old age and grows younger with every passing year. You would think that Benjamin Button's journey would give him a unique perspective on what it means to be human, and in a way it does. But mostly it sets him apart just enough to form an eloquent point of reference. Outsiders of various stripe often serve this role in tales about life, the conclusion of which must always be that our time is short and our best moments precious.
Despite his abnormality, Benjamin has similar moments to many a man's. Born in 1920s New Orleans, he is left on the doorstep of a retirement home where he is adopted by a kindhearted caregiver (Taraji P. Henson). Through cinematic wizardry, the shriveled creature that Benjamin becomes after a few years has the face of the movie's star, Brad Pitt, and you believe it without any effort. He is a cute, trusting little body who learns like most children about the pain of losing loved ones and the potential of the wide world around him. Each year he gets stronger and less grey, and at 17 he leaves home to find his future. He travels, serves in World War II, and shares a brief affair with a British ambassador's wife (Tilda Swinton in an excellent cameo). Yet his greatest adventure is a lifelong relationship with a red-haired beauty named Daisy, who is portrayed in adulthood by Cate Blanchett. Daisy is fascinated by Benjamin as a child; wishes to conquer him as a young woman; fears his devotion as a successful ballerina; then realizes she needs him as she approaches her forties, which happily coincide with his own. They meet in the middle of life for a blissful romance, after which, time being what it is, they have to keep moving on.
It is worth noting that Blanchett has never looked so exquisite, and that is saying a lot. I make this observation because the whole movie is enhanced by gorgeous details, and details, to my mind, often comprise the moments worth living. The wonderful house where Benjamin spends his wrinkly youth; the gilded elevator in which he exchanges looks with the ambassador's wife; the gazebo in which Daisy first attempts to seduce him (and the red dress she is wearing); the hilarious vignettes of a guy getting hit by lightning — these touches give the picture the feel of a scrapbook lovingly compiled. Fincher takes exactly the right approach for a message about seizing the day: he shows an average life rendered extraordinary by the principal reason that it was appreciated.
Copyright © 2008 The Jujube (M. I. Kim). All rights reserved.
