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The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button (Film)
Rating: M
Running Time: 159
Country: USA
Director: David Fincher
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Jason Flemyng, Julia Ormond, Brad Pitt, Tilda Swinton
Distributor: Roadshow
Release Date: December 26, 2008
Film Worth: $15.00
FILMINK rates movies out of $20 - the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth“…a majestic piece of filmmaking.”
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a majestic piece of filmmaking, which exhibits director David Fincher's visual brilliance to maximum effect.
Based on the strange short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and adapted for the big screen by acclaimed screenwriter Eric Roth (The Insider, Forrest Gump), the film chronicles the life of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), a man born in his eighties, who ages backwards. Abandoned by his father (Jason Flemyng), and raised in a retirement home by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), Benjamin takes in the wisdom dispensed by his much older yet curiously similar looking housemates, and then departs on a series of adventures on the high seas as a tug boat sailor. As he grows into middle age, a passionate love affair with his "childhood" sweetheart Daisy (Cate Blanchett) blossoms into a fruitful romance, as Daisy dreads her natural transgression into old age, while Benjamin grows more youthful by the day.
The performances in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button are spectacular. Pitt injects his character with the right amount of soul and humour needed to make it work, and Blanchett is simply radiant, oozing grace and sex appeal. They're more than ably backed by an impressive supporting cast, the standout being Taraji P. Henson's show stopping romp as Benjamin's brassy foster mother.
A dazzling display of visual and makeup effects miraculously ages the cast into their youthful and subsequent elder selves. Of particular note is the image of a shrivelled Brad Pitt during the earlier stages of the film. Art direction, cinematography, and editing are also top class. Many will be aggrieved by the film's lengthy running time, and at 167 minutes, it will certainly have viewers shuffling in their seats. Yet one minute less would have undercut the film's emotional and visual impact.
The magic of cinema defined, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button is a fulfilling and grandiose journey.