Button’s good, but he ain’t no Gump

Ageing in reverse seems easier than actually ageing the normal way, or so one would gather from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, that partial holiday hit that might have you half wondering whether it’s worth the pocket change to go see.
It is.
Few movies take hold of you the way Benjamin Button does. Few movies bring you into their world so effectively. Fewer movies keep you there until the end, especially if it happens to be after two and a half hours.
Benjamin Button keeps its magical promises and drives right through with candor, playfulness and a heartwarming theme. This is the sort of sap that makes for misty eyes in those movie-goers looking to be moved, or digestive discomfort in people who are hoping for something new.
With Button, Director David Fincher teamed up with Brad Pitt for the third time (Seven, Fight Club), showing once again that he knows how to bring out both Pitt’s cheekbones and strengths as an actor.
In the film, Benjamin Button (Pitt) was born on the day World War One ended. He was eighty years old at birth and from that day forth he would grow to become younger. A bit heinous looking due to his wrinkly little head and cataract-swollen eyes, his father left him on the doorstep of an old-age home run by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson).
While Benjamin grows younger, his position gives him a clear vantage of life’s solemn reality. As those around him in the home pass away, young Benjamin comes to learn that he must make the most of life, for no man can stop the forces of time and it will get him one day regardless of his situation.
At the ripening age of twenty, an all-but crippled Button embarks on a journey. Each character he meets along the way reaffirms his outlook on life, one that seems unwaveringly optimistic. Captain Mike gives him a sturdy pair of sea legs that even puts Button in the waters of World War Two. Love for a girl he met when very young, Daisy, blooms as the two cross paths later in life. His father looks for atonement and finally Button’s life ends in his baby blues.
Pitt plays the role like a champ; Button never lets life get in his way but still lives life to the fullest.
Although the story remains playfully toned, a certain irreverence seems to come out from the nature of Button’s character. He is easily able to leave loved ones in the dust with a ‘born to be wild’ excuse. This ageing hipster never seems tied down by any long-term responsibility and reaches his sexual peak after over fifty years of life experience: it’s a thing of envy. Pitt is the perfect face for the role; he looks fifty in one light and eighteen in another. Watching him as a very old man though is what really lacquers on the charm: his beady little eyes and keen mind shine with child-like wonder.
Cate Blanchett plays the role of Daisy. As a ballet dancer, she delivers. All around, she effectively portrays the elegance and toughness that are behind Daisy’s charm. As for the transformation from young to old (the movie’s story is told Titanic style from Daisy’s hospital bedside) it’s uncanny what Hollywood can do with makeup.
Eric Roth (Forrest Gump) wrote the screenplay, steeping the story Gump like narrative that at times pulls on all heart strings at once, but at times feels a bit overdone. The film is loosely based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, but in the end the two hardly resemble each other.
All in all, the film is strong, the story is solid and you leave the theater satisfied. The film can be placed somewhere between Forrest Gump’s amazing story and Big Fish’s fantastic world. But since its premise and style feel borrowed from other films, it probably won’t be in Oscar contention.