Kismet.

Rating: Null/10 (9 January 2010)

I don't have a problem with long, leisurely-paced films as long as they are intelligently written and directed, so for me The Curious of Benjamin Button, while perhaps not quite managing to achieve the greatness for which it quite obviously strives, was an enjoyable film. That isn't to damn the film with faint praise - lofty ambitions unrealised aren't necessarily a sign of a sub-standard film. But my only real criticism is that Button is a film that dwells on questions of fate and life and death without really providing any meaningful insight. The central device, that of the title character (ably played by Brad Pitt) ageing backwards almost seems to be superfluous. His condition is accepted unquestioningly by all around him, and as the film focuses more on the first half of Button's life there is little evidence of the wisdom living one's life in reverse would give Button as his looks grow younger.
The story is told on a fairly grand scale while focusing on the importance of human relations (and how they mould a person) and the emotions that play a part in deciding our fate. A melancholic air hangs over everything: we know that Benjamin can only briefly sample happiness because of his condition: his affair with Daisy can only ever be a transient one, a fact they both try to ignore and which Benjamin finally, reluctantly, faces up to. It's at this point that the effects of Benjamin's condition (rather than the emotional impact) take centre-stage. By now the film is over two-hours old, leaving it feeling somewhat imbalanced as the last thirty-odd years of Benjamin's life feel glossed over. Despite this, the poignancy of his final years is perfectly captured.
It's long, it's slow, there's a certain sense of self-importance about it, but The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is definitely worth a look.