Don't look away

Rating: 8/10 (3 January 2009)

If only there was a way to have someone else empty your bladder so that you didn't have to take your eyes off the screen.
This movie is very long, and I, for one, wished the above statement a number of times. In the end I was glad I held on, because I would have hated to have missed the countless beautiful moments that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button lays out for its audience, one after the other.
The characters were the clear highlight of this film. I can't think of another film packed with so many likable characters. The two main characters, Benjamin and Daisy, are obviously wonderful, however it is the beautiful mosaic of supporting characters around them that makes the film extraordinary. There wasn't a single one I didn't like, even though every character was flawed and human. It's a very refreshing film for this reason. How many other films show the whole human race as lovable? Despite such positively portrayed characters, the predominant feeling in the film is sadness - but don't let that get you down. It's sadness of the grief variety, not the depressing variety. It's sadness that the film helps you express, and thus releases you from. Grief is beautiful - it is the hole that is left when love is uprooted, and it is the best way to appreciate the love, the beauty, that came before. These are the moments I didn't want to miss - the film expressed pain as a way of framing love.