An Unforgettable Film of Wondrous Beauty

Rating: 10/10 (7 February 2009)

I was extremely interested in seeing this movie, especially when it received a staggering 13 Academy Award nominations, including nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Leading Actor. I was so interested in seeing this that I trudged through knee-deep snow for a hour to get to the cinema, and ended up with frozen feet. But it was worth it. I have often said that the Academy Awards tends to make mistakes with some of the films that it nominates (when they ignored The Dark Knight for Best Picture nominations, it was an unexpected nasty slap in the face). But I have to say that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button deserves every single one of its nominations. This is the most awe-inspiring piece of mainstream entertainment since The Dark Knight stormed cinemas last summer. Beautiful, subtly poignant and performed and constructed with almost hypnotic confidence, Benjamin Button slowly wraps you in its story and, before you realise, traps you. Very few films have the ability to do that.
The film opens in a New Orleans hospital in 2005, with Hurricane Katrina howling outside the window. An elderly patient named Daisy (Cate Blanchett) asks her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) to read the diary of a man named Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) to her, knowing that it is her last chance to discover its contents. We are then drawn into Benjamin's story, starting on the night that WW1 ended, and the night that Benjamin's biological father, Thomas Button (Jason Flemyng), who is horrified by his son's appearance, abandons him on the step of a old-people's home run by a kind woman named Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), who adopts Benjamin. At first, it seems likely that he's going to die from health issues caused by old age. But miraculously, as everyone around him grows older, he grows younger. As his life progresses, his path continually crosses with that of Daisy, and a deep relationship grows between the two of them. However, with the two of them growing in the opposite directions, there are inevitably heart-wrenching consequences Benjamin Button has so many events incorporated into its storyline that my summary is incredibly brief by comparison. But everything is so brilliantly woven into the story that the apparently lengthy running time (the film runs for just under 3 hours) just flies by. Every aspect of the production, from the acting to the visual effects, from the direction to the costume design, flawlessly fits into the production like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle.
If the characters are sympathetic enough for the tragic force of the story to shine on screen, this is largely down to the magnificent performances. Brad Pitt delivers a superbly subtle and nuanced portrayal of Benjamin Button. Terrifically capturing the mannerisms and essence of a character who transforms from a young man in an old man's body into an old man in the form of a young man, Pitt has rarely been better. The Academy Award nomination that he received was definitely deserved. As Daisy, Cate Blanchett creates a sympathetically flawed, yet strong character. Blanchett's sparkling performance creates a connection between the character and the audience, much like the relationship between Daisy and Benjamin. In the role of Queenie, Taraji P. Jenson is a torrent of force and energy. The love, care and heartfelt uncertainty that Jenson pours into Queenie makes her all the lovable and human. The Academy Award nomination that her performance received was yet another well-deserved nomination. There are other strong supporting performances from Jared Harris (as the captain of a tugboat that Benjamin works on), Jason Flemyng, Julia Ormond and a brilliant Tilda Swinton (as a woman who Benjamin has a brief affair with), who all take their screen time and run with it.
Now we come to the direction. David Fincher, director of films such as "Fight Club", "Zodiac" and "Panic Room", has never attempted a film with such scope and detail as this. However, from the way that he composes himself in the director's seat, you are unlikely to notice it. Fincher manages the difficult job of not going for the easy emotional moments with aplomb, and weaves the different story threads together with such tremendous skill that none of them seem extraneous. He also creates several moments which are simply compelling in their creativity and sense of originality. One of these moments comes in the first five minutes. It is an astounding shot of a battle in WW1 which is rewinding, with soldiers running backwards towards their trenches, and violent explosions shrinking out of existence. Another sequence, in which seemingly disconnected events all play a part in a tragic accident, has a brilliant build-up and a genuinely intelligent idea driving it; if any one of these small incidents hadn't taken place, then the final tragedy might not have happened. But hey, that's life. Did Fincher deserve the Oscar nomination that he received? I'll give you a clue. Yes!!!
Technically, this film is colossal. The inspirationally faultless visual effects used to construct the appearance of Button at different stages of his life, the haunting musical score by Alexandre Desplat, the marvellously realistic make-up for both Benjamin and Daisy at different stages of their lives and so much more make this film a gallery of some of the most influential technical achievements in years. This film stands alongside technical juggernauts such as "Jurassic Park", "The Dark Knight" and the "Lord of the Rings" films.
Overall, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is an incredible achievement, both technically and emotionally. Simply mesmerising from beginning to end, "Benjamin Button" is easily one of the best films of the year so far, alongside "Slumdog Millionaire" and "Frost/Nixon", and it will take a lot of great films to keep it from being it from being in my Top Ten list of films in 2009. From where I'm sitting, the race for the Best Picture Oscar has become very interesting indeed.