With a great trailer and the reuniting of Brad Pitt and David Fincher, whose last effort was the now classic “Fight Club,” anticipation was high for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.” Not being a huge Brad Pitt fan and wary of over-hyped Oscar vehicles, I was wary and kept my expectations in check.
Very loosely based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story chronicling the life of a man who ages backwards, the film is told mostly in flashback by an elderly Cate Blanchett. On her death bed (inexplicably as Hurricane Katrina approaches), she recounts via dairy a previously untold portion of her life to her daughter (Julia Ormond, still smarting from “First Knight”). The tale begins in lively 1918 New Orleans with the birth of baby Benjamin at age 75. Following his mother’s death, his widowing father abandons him on the front steps of retirement home (irony!). Resembling a raisin with extremities, Benjamin is discovered by the gentle Queenie (a fantastic Taraji P. Henson) a kind black woman who works at the establishment, which is full of doddering white folk. With almost no apprehension to his “curious” appearance she takes to raising Benjamin as her own.
By the time Benjamin reaches about three odd digital renderings of Brad Pitt’s familiar features start to creep in. A composite of body doubles, Brad Pitt’s face and CGI stand in until Mr. Pitt himself is able to take over. The look is strange and, perhaps appropriately, off putting. Highlights of his adventurous youth include getting drunk and laid, as well as receiving advice much earlier than appropriate for his actual age. But the most significant encounter during this period is with the crimson-haired Daisy, who will one day grow up to be Cate Blanchett and his primary romantic interest.
At eighteen, looking fifty, he sets sea and the film enters full sweep mode. Benjamin’s adventures sprawl 70 years and include a wide array of people and places. The art department is more than up to the task recreating them all in wide shots and large crowds. Overall, the production design in terms of scope and detail is ravishing. Enhanced, not overwhelmed, by digital effects, the various sets and costumes are impressively realized with the amber tinge as of an aging photograph.
While the stories outcome is never in doubt, (Benjamin’s gray hair will turn gold, his wrinkles will beget a flawless complextion and he will morph into Brad Pitt) the how proves to be intriguing enough to keep one engaged as they wait for the inevitable. Particularly in witnessing the stunning incarnations of Benjamin, and Daisy, as they age inversely are staggering, especially in their youth. In the age of “Transformers” special effects struggle more and more to impress when CGI has unmasked all remaining mystery of movie magic. The rendering of Cate Blanchett as a professional caliber dancer at 23 is so believable it’s frightening. The camera is too close to be a body double but not far away enough to be faking the dancing. It truly begs the question “how did they do that?”
Mr. Fincher has always been adept at enhancing his visual storytelling by utilizing these tools, he did so in last years “Zodiac” as well as the immortal “Fight Club.” But aside from it’s visual grandeur and specificity this ponderous story is a departure from Fincher’s earlier efforts. It is much easier to recognize the hand of screenwriter Eric Roth who also penned “Forrest Gump,” comparisons to which are inevitable. Both title characters are not concerned with leaving their but mark on the world, just finding their place in it. Thus their quests are not pursuits of success but of acceptance. These consistencies are not detriments mind you, (though they will be for some). Tonally, the films are quite different, “Forrest Gump” is told with more whimsy while “Benjamin Button” is more of a mediation.
Unlike Mr. Gump though, here the title character is really more of a prop than anything else, albeit a spectacular one. There’s an emptiness to Pitt’s that keeps his Benjamin at arm’s length keeping him from becoming more than a story-telling device. This is not to say he does bad work, his charisma alone is enough to carry such a film. It’s just that such a vast narrative may have warranted delving a little deeper. Contrary to Pitt’s enigmatic reserve, Balncett’s Daisy injects the film with a much needed vibrancy and serves as the life blood of the story. A confirmed superhuman performer, Blanchett is completely believable as someone waiting a lifetime for. In one enchanting sequence Daisy attempts to seduce Benjamin, dancing in moonlit silhouette. It’s a perfect marriage of performance and filmmaking. Fincher brings the sumptuous imagery but, like the mist hovering above the lake behind her, Blancett makes it emanate off the screen.
In perhaps the most memorable section of his travels, Benjamin encounters Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton), a lonley diplomat’s wife, and has a affair. This is one of the most beautifully crafted sequences of the film largely due to Swinton’s lovely melancholic presence that intrigues Pitt’s quiet Benjamin. Developed over a succession of sleepless nights drinking tea this relationship is built on loneliness stemming from Benjamin’s hopelessly unrelatable condition and Elizabeth’s life of personal regrets. Thinking him a contemporary she confesses her disappointments to the impressionable Benjamin, (making one ponder the wisdom that could potentially be imparted if similar connections could be made in everyday life). This candid encounter proves vital to Benjamin’s unique understanding of mortality.
Death surrounds Benjamin, particularly in his formative years at the retirement home. Potentially giving him unparaelled insights into the human psyche. Unfortunately in the end there is little evidence that his life was any more fulfilling as a reult. Thus, his odd circumstance is an intriguing, handsomely told yarn rather than the life affirming epiphany it hopes to be. This lack of substantial revelation may seal it’s fate, for some, as a disappointment. But you would be wrong to dismiss it on such counts. Yes, it’s elaborate scheme poses no answers to any of life’s great mysteries, but it’s pleasures are rich and plentiful. The world of Benjamin Button was one in which I was happy to spend time and one I am eager to revisit, regardless of whether it had a point.