Stunning!

Rating: 10/10 (22 February 2009)

This year i have been under the misconception that the films nominated in this years "Best Picture" category at the Oscars are not up to the standard of recent years. Don't get me wrong , "Milk" and "Slumdog Millionaire" are good films but are they great? Not in my opinion , but last night i watched a movie that blew me away.A stunning film that lives up to it's hype and goes straight into my top 10 films of all time .That film is "The Curious case of Benjamin Button".
As soon as i heard those words "I was born under unusual circumstances." i was hooked.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be.
Directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. Benjamin Button is a grand tale of a not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.
I love films that bring out emotion in me. I'm not the most open person at the best of times as friends and family will confirm I'm sure! So when i get emotion over a film it has to be good.
Watching "The Curious case of Benjamin Button" makes you realise how lucky you are to have the love of friends and family and to have a lifetime of that support. The idea of a baby being born an old man who gradually gets younger is a brilliant one yet tragic. It instantly raises so many questions. questions that do not always have pleasant answers.
Brad Pitt is fantastic as strangely youngering ( is that a word or is there a word that is the opposite to ageing?) man. His screen presence is mesmerising throughout which is not easy considering the length of the movie.
There are been many plaudits for the special affect and they are totally deserved but it's not so much the affects of when Benjamin Button and Daisy are old it's the ones when they are young. How they got Brad Pitt and Kate blanchett to look 20 is amazing.
There is one scene in particular that rang so true for me. It was when Button explains the circumstances of how Daisy broke her leg and how if just one single thing like a Taxi Driver being delayed by 5 seconds because of a series of trivial events had not happened , her life could have been so different and that is so true for all of us .
What if your father had not gone out the night he met your mother because of something trivial like a car breaking down or a minor illness? Think about it.
As Benjamin Button says " Your life is defined by its opportunities... even the ones you miss."
The last twenty minutes is gut wrenchingly sad .When Button goes from a young man to a child and he loses his memory of Daisy i found myself filling up.
The curious case of Benjamin Button might not win the big one tonight at the Oscars but in my mind it has already won. It's such a magical , mystical , gem of a movie that will live with me for a very long time.
10 out of 10