As a daughter, Caroline, sits with her dying mother in a hospital, her mother has her read the remarkable and curious tale of a man that she loved: Benjamin Button. Born a shrivelled and old babe, Benjamin is abandoned by his father and taken in by the loving housekeeper of a nursing home. Surrounded by age, life, and death, Benjamin leads a curious life as everyone he loves grows older and he grows younger.
Winner of 3 Academy Awards including Best Art Direction, Best Visual Effects, and Best Makeup, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a painfully beautiful film about love, loss, time, and life. Based on the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, it’s a stunning and deeply stirring film that simply must not be missed.
As a daughter, Caroline, sits with her dying mother in a hospital, her mother has her read the remarkable and curious tale of a man that she loved: Benjamin Button. Born a shrivelled and old babe, Benjamin is abandon by his father and taken in by the loving housekeeper of a nursing home. Surrounded by age, life, and death, Benjamin leads a curious life as everyone he loves grows older and he grows younger.
To begin honestly, I have never read The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald, so I cannot write much in the ways of personal opinion. But I do know that it was hailed as one of literature’s great “unfilmable” tales and director David Fincher who brought us such great works as Fight Club and Se7en, has proven that statement to be horrendously wrong.
The tale is originally a simple and odd short story about a man who begins life old and grows younger. Screenwriters Eric Roth and Robin Swicord have done a remarkable job in using that odd and curious little story and turning it into a beautiful romantic drama that keeps audiences completely captivated for two and a half hours. Not since The Time Traveller’s Wife have I known such a powerful and moving love story.
The real news about this film is the wondrous achievement in visual effects and makeup. Through subtle, yet defined, prosthetics and makeup, Brad Pitt begins life looking 80 and then subtly changes until his course skin is smooth and glowing with youth; the cheats of computers are neither desired nor required for this tale. The same is done for Cate Blanchett being the character that keeps up anchored in reality. And it must be said that both romantic leads delivered stunning and very stirring performances.
Starring Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemying, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormand, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, and Jared Harris, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a stunning film filled with drama, romance, oddity, life, death, and time. One of the most moving and undeniably deeply stirring films to grace our screens, it is a film that simply CANNOT be missed!
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