The Curious Case of
Benjamin Button (2008)

	Directed by: David Fincher	COUNTRY USA GENRE Drama/Romance/ Fantasy NORWEGIAN TITLE Den fantastiske historien om Benjamin Button RUNNING TIME 166 minutes
	Produced by: Céan Chaffin Kathleen Kennedy Frank Marshall
	Written by (based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald): Eric Roth

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Benjamin Button	Brad Pitt	½
Daisy	Cate Blanchett	½
Queenie	Taraji P. Henson
Caroline	Julia Ormond	½
Thomas Button	Jason Flemyng	½
Tizzy	Mahershalalhashbaz Ali
Captain Mike	Jared Harris	½
Monsieur Gateau	Elias Koteas
Theodore Roosevelt	Ed Metzger
Grandma Fuller	Phyllis Somerville
Pleasant Curtis	Josh Stewart
Elizabeth Abbott	Tilda Swinton
Daisy – Age 6	Elle Fanning

Review

Some critics have argued that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button borrows too much from Forrest Gump – another tentatively magical journey along a curious life, if you like. I suppose this is an easy target, seeing as both films are written by the same screenwriter, but for me, it is not a valid argument. I had been looking forward to the next film to boast similar qualities to Forrest Gump could. Unfortunately, I cannot find enough of them in this film.

Still, director David Fincher's third teaming-up with Brad Pitt has resulted in an interesting and attractive film combining pieces of fantasy with pieces of history to tell its backwards chronological story of the life of one Benjamin Button – a man who was born as an elderly baby and dies as, well, a regular baby. The life in itself may not be terribly interesting or relevant (as the filmmakers want us to think), neither when it comes to his achievements nor his love life, but the film still strikes an emotional note through how our present-day protagonist (Julia Ormond) perceives and relates to Button's story.

The realization of the man's anti-aging process is nothing short of dazzling. Brad Pitt's performance is solid, but it is the brilliant make-up (a definite Oscar-winner) and technology that take command as Pitt goes from a bald, wrinkled 90-year-old to a baby-faced teenager during the course of only a handful of hours. I cannot quite decide whether it is a testament to the make-up and special effects departments or a blow to the film's dramatic value that I found myself evaluating Brad Pitt's looks more than I did empathising with Benjamin Button's rather unusual condition.

Whereas Gump was a naïve, unassuming picture, Benjamin Button feels more constructed and less spontaneous. This doesn't mean the film doesn't work as a drama, but it means that the fantasy elements don't come off quite as magical and captivating as intended. The lives of the characters are well intertwined, and Fincher directs with style and poise (helped by the amazing Alexandre Desplat), but Pitt and Cate Blanchett can't quite do justice to the scale and scope of the romantic subplot. Their love, when it finally materialises, seems to be borne out of plight rather than passion. Reportedly, F. Scott Fitzgerald's source material was more comedic in tone and didn't focus as much on romance as this adaptation does. In my opinion, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button would have profited from staying on that course.