A Curious Case

wow! Look, three posts this year!

So, after a trip to Sam's Club and mailing a birthday card to my best friend from college, I went to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, directed by David Fincher (of Seven, , Fight Club, and Panic Room, oh and Alien³ (I'd include Zodiac, but I haven't seen it yet). I mention David Fincher merely because this movie is so far outside of his traditional fare.

Benjamin Button runs nearly three hours but doesn't really seem that long; the story moves right along. The plot is essentially about a guy who ages backwards through his life. He looks like an old man at birth with associated old-man physical frailties like arthritis, hearing disability, bad vision, etc. As he grows, little by little he begins to de-age (handled pretty well and subtly throughout). Benjamin falls in love with Daisy at first sight as a young boy, a young boy who just happens to look like someone in his 80's.

The story is full of heart. You always root for Benjamin throughout his travails; your heart breaks with his, and in turn swells with his. He's somewhat the innocent like Forest Gump, but not with the mental challenge. Because of his aged appearance, he gets treated much differently than someone who looks his actual age. Daisy, however, appears to be the only one who recognizes him as he truly is, not just what he looks like.

So, how do you see people? Do you see only what's on the outside and go no deeper? And how do you see yourself? One of the other themes addressed is continuing on in the face of failure or setbacks. Is it ever too late to start over? How long can one live in the past? (And these are all good questions for me to ask myself.)

While watching this movie, for the first time in my life, I missed New Orleans (the setting of most of the movie). Growing up there was pretty rotten, and I was oh-so-very-happy to move away. I had no friends, was rejected at both school and church, and was pretty much miserable the whole time. But there were some cool places to go to (field trips). New Orleans is an old city (not ancient-Rome old or anything, but relative to the U.S., it's on up there), and has great architecture and character. And that stuff I kind of miss.

Anyway, I give The Curious Case of Benjamin button an 8.257.25 out of 10. Update 1/5/2009 12:30 a.m.: Dropped rating one point due to moral concerns. Strictly as a story, I give it the 8.25, but with total lack of legitimate consequences and the total humanistic outlook, I had to drop it a notch.