DHP Review: The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Posted by Dirty Harry on Monday, January 5th, 2009
Nearly two and a half hours pass before The Curious Case of Benjamin Button hits you with any real warmth or poignancy and that’s an awfully long row to hoe in order to finally feel the way the lush trailer promised. The real failure of the film isn’t due to its frustrating lack of a central story and emotional through-line, or even two very unappealing love interests. It fails because wistful isn’t a theme, and other than a series of episodes under the impression they’re more important than they really are, Benjamin Button simply isn’t about anything.
Benjamin (Brad Pitt) is born the size of a baby but the rest of him is an old man in his eighties riddled with arthritis, cataracts and wrinkled skin. His mother dies during child birth leaving his father emotionally devastated and in no condition to deal with his seemingly deformed son. He leaves the baby at the doorstep of an old folks home run by Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) who, under the belief the child will die soon, takes little Benjamin under her protective wing. Benjamin doesn’t die, though. Instead he grows younger and younger with each passing year.Benjamin’s mind is still that of a child’s, so he learns to read and write like any toddler must. And while he’s smallish like a child, in every other respect he’s an old man in need of eyeglasses and a wheelchair. Eventually, over the years as he grows younger, he will grow into the fine physical specimen we call Brad Pitt.
What would be a normal person’s late teens are Benjamin’s mid-to-late sixties, and this is when he begins to flex the normal teenage independence that starts him on a life of world travel and into the arms of his two great loves. The first is Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton), a fortyish, British woman in a loveless marriage. The second is Daisy (Cate Blanchett), whom Benjamin meets while he’s an old man and she’s a young girl. Over the years their paths cross again and again until they finally meet in the middle where romance won’t involve a felony.
The story opens at Daisy’s death bed in a New Orleans hospital as Hurricane Katrina is set to strike. With her daughter (Julia Ormond) at her side, Daisy produces an old diary that contains Benjamin’s memoirs written twenty years earlier. Before she passes, Daisy would like to hear Benjamin’s story once more and so we welcome the framing device that will take us through the rest of the film.
The film’s fatal flaw is the lack of an emotional connection between Pitt and his female co-stars. Tilda Swinton couldn’t exude warmth holding a flamethrower and what Benjamin sees in her is never all that clear. She’s meant to represent the Older Woman who teaches him to love, but doesn’t display even a hint of the tenderness that would help us make sense of the special place she holds in his memory. Blanchett’s Daisy is no better. For the first half of the film she’s brittle and self-involved. For the second half she’s just brittle.
What’s mostly missing, however, is a point. The first couple hours are made up of episodes in Benjamin’s life. As stand-alone blackouts each might work as a whimsical fable, but the lack of a central narrative combined with the self-importance of it all wears thin after a half-hour. The visuals are beautiful, the acting is excellent, but the wisdom and insight is shallow nonsense. Nothing we learn from Benjamin’s ceaseless voice-over ever reaches beyond the depth of a fortune cookie.
And what does it say about the film that it wouldn’t have been all that difficult to tell the exact same story without the gimmick of our protagonist aging in reverse? Benjamin is only different from us in how he ages. Other than that he looks normal and goes through all the normal psychological phases of life. In other words, it is all much ado about nothing. The tragedy of Daisy and Benjamin’s love affair is no tragedy, at least not anymore tragic than anyone else’s. Eventually age and death take everyone away from us. You grab what time you have and make the most of it. Daisy and Benjamin had thirty of forty good years available to them. So what the hell’s all the hand-wringing about? That’s not tragedy, that’s life.
Had the story been less ambitious and merely used Benjamin’s condition as a metaphor to help us understand and appreciate better the blip of time that is our life, something that connected more on an emotional level might have come from it. Unfortunately, the film misses even that as it overshoots aiming for much larger ambitions.
Eric Roth’s script relies heavily on two lazy devices that are quickly becoming outright cliches. This idea that adultery liberates and rejuvenates or is somehow acceptable and without consequences between two people who can’t be together has moved beyond offensive and straight into boring. There’s also the the tiresome portrayal of black people as happy, simple folk able to impart life-changing wisdom at the drop of a hat. Why, because they’re black? A positive stereotype is still a stereotype. Instead of well-rounded, complicated human beings we get condescending fonts of exposition and homespun humor little different from the servant roles Hattie McDaniel played in the thirties and forties.
Benjamin Button very much wants to be warm and rich and hit home in the heart department. The world created by director David Fincher is meticulously designed for just that and the special effects are equally impressive because you don’t notice them. But all we have here is an awfully lovely shell without a thing in the center.
Filed in Movie Reviews |
Joshon 27 Dec 2008 at 2:07 pm 1I was talking to some people and someone brought up the film. A girl immediately exclaimed, “Yes I read about that film. It’s based on a true story.”
Highfreakinlarious!
Carolynon 27 Dec 2008 at 2:14 pm 2“…Tilda Swinton couldn’t exude warmth holding a flamethrower…
Harry, that alone was worth the price of admission. Thanks!
Luke Hon 27 Dec 2008 at 2:37 pm 3This idea that adultery liberates and rejuvenates or is somehow acceptable and without consequences between two people who can’t be together has moved beyond offensive and straight into boring.
Amen.
Luke
Zundfolgeon 27 Dec 2008 at 3:38 pm 4So what about leftist sucker punches?
I figure any modern film that spans that much of the twentieth century must come up with a handful of good “kick the white Republicans in the nuts” bits here and there.
Moon 27 Dec 2008 at 3:58 pm 5This is very disappointing to hear. I remember being so intrigued by the trailer! But all the reviews I’ve seen so far have said basically the same thing.
Although I had not seen about the adultery thing. That is such a pet peeve of mine in films these days!
Wayfareron 27 Dec 2008 at 4:03 pm 6Dangit. I wanted to see this.
But I’m with Carolyn, Swinton is only good at playing characters as…say…the White Witch, fully-evil-no-hope-for-redemption characters.
Keiraon 27 Dec 2008 at 4:08 pm 7This is how I felt about “Meet Joe Black”—waaaaaay too long and what was the point?
Love your: “Wistful isn’t a theme…”
pandaxon 27 Dec 2008 at 4:13 pm 8Just watching the trailer I could smell pretentious and self important stinking up the joint.
ScottDSon 27 Dec 2008 at 4:31 pm 9I just got back from seeing it and I thought it was great, despite a couple of nagging issues I had with a couple of plot points towards the end.
I can say I didn’t get a self-important vibe from this (as opposed to other Oscar-season films) and there are no sucker punches, to the extent that my independent voter mind could see.
I totally get DH’s review and valid criticisms but it’s still worth seeing, at least just once. (My friend asked if I will buy the Blu-Ray when it comes out but this film isn’t exactly something to watch at random on a boring afternoon.)
Also kudos to the visual and make-up FX teams and Alexandre Desplat’s score. And lemme tell ya, Cate Blanchett makes it look easy!
ThePosteron 27 Dec 2008 at 4:48 pm 10I guess I will be a contrarian, I looked at this movie through the the glasses of life and what we expect of it. For example is youth wasted on the youth? Why must the old be saddled with “oldness” at least physically if not psychologically as well?
This movie at least hinted at the most intractable (as least for me, by my way of thinking) of all human problems, time and death. Nothing in Benjamin Buttons life can deliver him from a fateful end, and vice a versa. In other words whither decrepitness is wasted on youth or old it makes no difference. That is a human problem of some significance. The movie proposes no remedy, I will grant, other than the traditional politically correct ideas of live your life to its fullest, carpe diem. Just my two cents.
Bradoxon 27 Dec 2008 at 5:19 pm 11You hit the mark on Swinton, and why not?
After all, she was Jadis.
Stephanieon 27 Dec 2008 at 5:21 pm 12Tilda Swinton was also BORN to play Jadis, the White Witch of Narnia fame…heh heh heh.
I will wait for this on DVD. Too bad. I had hope to.
whiskeyon 27 Dec 2008 at 5:51 pm 13Interesting DH. Thanks for taking the hit so I won’t have to.
Yep, lazy cliches that are boring and stupid: “liberating” adultery (or “I want it now!” laziness and immaturity) and the “Magical Negro” ala Spike Lee’s criticism. I have a lot of issues with Lee, but here he is spot on.
Blacks ought to be just ordinary characters, good guys, bad guys, in between, and whatever. I’ve lived in New Orleans. The culture and political atmosphere is poison (the best that could have been hoped for before Katrina was a slightly less corrupt incompetent government), but the people individually are no worse or better than anyone else and lack magical powers of rejuvenation or what have you.
What is notable about New Orleans (or was) … was the way in which the country of the Past, i.e. Black Culture in High Culture, with the Marsalis family, various Jazz bands playing around and the apprenticeship system in music, and the sense of connection to a Black High Culture of considerable achievement still existed.
That’s gone now after Katrina, and even before horrific crime and dysfunctional ignorance and stupidity of modern culture had eroded much/most of it, but it did once exist. I saw the remnants of it myself, with my own eyes.
Danielon 27 Dec 2008 at 5:52 pm 14Not a true story, of course, but a story by a famous author. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is by F. Scott Fitzgerald, as in The Great Gatsby.
You can read the original short story here: http://www.readbookonline.net/read/690/10628/
Interesting that, instead of republishing a collection of Jazz Age short stories, a feat that might actually get people interested in great literature, the marketing types preceded this film with a graphic novel based on Fitzgerald’s story - http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Case-Benjamin-Button-Graphic/dp/1594742812.
Did they presume the American public wouldn’t want to sit down for a few moments and actually read words without pictures?
WasatchManon 27 Dec 2008 at 5:57 pm 15Too bad. I’m kind of a fan of Fincher’s darker work, and this sounds like he’s trying too hard to change his Hitchcockian image.
ArchiCrashon 27 Dec 2008 at 6:02 pm 16>>Just watching the trailer I could smell pretentious and self important stinking up the joint.
Word. As I commented in some previous thread, all the scientific plausibility of Spider-Man, but without any Doc Ock or Green goblin fights…
Thomas Talionison 27 Dec 2008 at 6:04 pm 17The only Left Wing sucker punch came in the form of the clock that ran backwards “so that maybe our dead sons could come back from the war.” (WW1) He apologized if he offended anyone by his lack of patriotism. And Teddy Roosevelt hung his head in shame.
I was unaware that Teddy started WW1 but he was a white Republican.
I liked the part where Tilda’s character finally realized her dream despite her age. That was clever. And it was clever irony to get us to pity Benjamin for being old, then we envy him for getting young.
Joe Weldonon 27 Dec 2008 at 6:10 pm 18Hey Harry, don’t take Brad Pitt’s film foray about adultery so bad…
He might be speaking from personal experience
.
Also, Tilda Swinton publicly mentioned that she’s a member of Britain’s Communist Party.
Simply put - I don’t like her.
Joe Weldonon 27 Dec 2008 at 6:13 pm 19Off topic -
Speaking of communists…
Can anyone tell me why Macy’s uses a red star as their store’s symbol?
It’s been bugging the sh*t outta me.
Granton 27 Dec 2008 at 6:24 pm 20“The only Left Wing sucker punch came in the form of the clock that ran backwards “so that maybe our dead sons could come back from the war.” (WW1) He apologized if he offended anyone by his lack of patriotism. And Teddy Roosevelt hung his head in shame.”
Interesting, given that Teddy Roosevelt’s son, Archie, was killed while serving in the US Army Air Corps. TR died in 1919. His namesake Teddy Roosevelt Jr. died during the Normandy Campaign. Patton called TR Jr., “the bravest soldier I’ve ever known.” I seriously doubt it TR would have hanged his head in shame.
NeoConJedion 27 Dec 2008 at 6:44 pm 21Joe Weldon:
I’ve been thinking the same thing about Macy’s since that red star burst upon my eyes.
Get this … The Macy’s near me had a shirt with a hammer and sickle on it, and another one with Che’s mug on it!
I was with my girlfriend when I saw these items, and she just gave me a look that said “don’t do it … please not now.” But I couldn’t help myself … I had to ask the sales associate why the hell these shirts would be in stock.
Of course, the associate, who appeared to be at least in her 40s, had no idea what was wrong the shirts.
I’m not sure, but I thought I heard Ronald Reagan turn in his grave.
Ellaon 27 Dec 2008 at 7:22 pm 22It sounds like the movie missed the point of the short story entirely. Wow. Without the point of the story, what’s the point of the movie? (And I didn’t even like the story; I got a Kafka/Metamorphosis vibe off it, and I despise them both. Too bleak and, ultimately, pointless.)
I digress.
Anyway, the point of the story is that from Day 1, Benjamin is the appropriate age. As in, when he is born at age 70, he can walk and talk like a 70-year-old man, preferred spending time with his grandfather, and could already read and write. His emotional and intellectual maturity matched his physical age.
The intent, I think, of the story was to show how doing things out of sequence, even in a way beyond his control, estranged Benjamin Button from his own life - from his parents, his son, his wife, his business, his education. He never connected with anyone, and the bonds of their relationships simply weren’t strong enough to guide his life. Despite his exploits, like being a successful businessman and a war hero, he had no personal fulfillment. He was isolated.
His relationship with his father and his wife were especially integral to showing this. His father tried to make him dress and eat like an infant, to eat lollipops and play little games, never acknowledging that Benjamin was, ahem, different. His wife initially loved him because of his age and experience (he appeared 50) while he loved her youth, beauty, and vivacity. After 20 years of marriage, when the roles were reversed, they despised and disgusted each other.
Neither of the two most important people in his life acknowledged or accepted who he was. He, likewise, was a self-absorbed, arrogant little twat who never looked outside his immediate interests to pay attention to anyone else’s needs.
But it’s a sad bleak story because of those two relationships. And they just juggled that around. Why?
Wayfareron 27 Dec 2008 at 8:52 pm 23@ NeoConJedi: I’m pretty sure he was. And probably still is.
The Almighty Turtleon 27 Dec 2008 at 9:12 pm 24“I was unaware that Teddy started WW1 but he was a white Republican.”
Actually, he didn’t start WWI. Indeed, it is likely that the “usual suspects” of the Serb/Montenegrin/Yugoslav Nationalists, Austro-Hungarian expansionists, German militarists, and Industrialist Capitalists never really started it on their own (especially the last one, as they were pretty much powerless and subject to the whims or orders of their governments).
Teddy Roosevelt’s part regarding WWI was that he quickly realized German intentions regarding the US and advocated joining the Allies in 1916. Needless to say, the Wilsonians defeated him and the candidate who supported him, promising “Peace with Honor.”
Unfortunately for the naive and idealistic Wilson, Berlin saw this as a sign of weakness. And they took advantage of American isolationism to try and engineer the downfall of the US and the Monroe Doctrine (as had been set out in the Cuba Memorandum in 1898).
Wilson only realized his error after the British presented him with the Zimmerman Telegram, detailing planned Mexican aggression against the US with German aid.
So Teddy WAS right after all.
Kiton 27 Dec 2008 at 9:32 pm 25So Tilda Swinton is a Commie.
THAT is why she was such a good White Witch!
MovieBobon 27 Dec 2008 at 9:58 pm 26I liked it. The acting is superb, the last twenty minutes or so are DEVASTATING, the out-there gimmick is integrated so seamlessly you never stop to wonder why legions of doctors aren’t trying to “bottle” whatever is making Benjamin “work” and I appreciate that it’s not trying to bludgeon you to death with a “point.” The story gets told, ends, and if you take a message away it’s a personal one drawn by the film effecting you on a deeper, human level. LOVED how it was able to make Blanchett’s character relatable even when she’s not in the “characters we like” column - like a non-preachy, bullcrap-free version of Forrest Gump’s Jenny. (In fact, since the comparisons will come up no matter what, I’d say this film beats Forrest Gump like a preachy, ham-fisted, moralistic dog.)
For whatever else it’s worth, I’m SHOCKED to see a three-hour high-concept David Fincher movie doing this well with a mainstream audience. It opened in second place, will probably end up as his biggest hit, and it’s playing to sold out crowds. I was in one tonight myself - went to the theater to see Gran Torino, saw this instead because I saw all the sellouts and wanted to see what this “was” with a crowd. If you’d told me this morning I’d see a sold-out Saturday night audience of (mostly) old people and middle-aged couples APPLAUD the credits of a David Fincher film, I’d have called you a liar. If it actually holds and becomes a decent-sized hit/conversation-piece, this could be Best Picture. Easily.
Lloydon 27 Dec 2008 at 10:14 pm 27As for the Star logo, wikiauthors and Macy’s themselves
http://www.macysinc.com/pressroom/History/MacysAHistory.aspx
agree that the founder of the store had such a tattoo in his sailor days. I’ve seen the star as both red and white over time, so Macy’s claiming that it is red because the tattoo was read has to be unproven.
http://www.macysinc.com/photos/photos/small/img_3950_9726_200_150.jpg Hopefully at that link you will see the logo was a white star. Other photos in the set show no star at all on the store front.
Maryon 27 Dec 2008 at 11:02 pm 28Benjamin Button…was the worst movie I have ever seen. I kept waiting for some profound moment…after about 1 hour I was so restless I could have cried. There were things that did not add up….the daughter not knowingDaisy danced? Hum…how could she teach dancing, were you not at the school? The home where Benjamin grew up…empty and suddenly back again…and several more…they kept trying to make some kind of profound statement about life and it never happened…it was so lame. Daisy can you like die already…I was sick of looking at her…They could have done it much better in less time and less of a Brad Pitt a log….I could not wait for it to end. It was painful…..I am still not sure what the hell it was about? Children usually don’t get dementia…..It was like they kept trying every angle to get something….don’t ask me what??? Don’t waste your time or money……
Ginaon 28 Dec 2008 at 2:10 am 29Another well written piece, Harry. And this is EXACTLY the impression I got from seeing the trailer and reading about the film: that it was pointless, gimmicky, and generally overblown. Even the good reviews were leaving me wondering, “But what’s it ABOUT?”
whiskeyon 28 Dec 2008 at 2:38 am 30FWIW Swinton has an “open marriage” with her husband, and has said both bring lovers home. Must be great for her son, who got those two self-absorbed twits for parents.
Sigh.
Benjamin Button, a three hour portentous, pompous, love song to Brad Pitt. Please.
I’d rather see Steven Seagal in “Against the Dark” … TWICE!
Butthead voice: “Beavis, this may be the greatest movie ever made.”
See Ace’s place for the details.
Actually, that’s a high concept for the next Twilight Movie. Bella’s father finally grows a clue and hires JET LI! to kill all the vampires! With BIG! Explosions. New director, Michael Bay. Also starring just out of Prison Wesley Snipes reprising “Blade.”
Joe Weldonon 28 Dec 2008 at 3:06 am 31Lloyd,
I’ve seen the Macy’s star made white for certain occasions.
But the Macy’s ad in my local paper today is still a red one.
They still use the red star.
The article also didn’t say WHY Mr. Macy liked the red star as his company’s symbol - only that he kept it from his sailor days.
What WAS Mr. Macy’s political persuasion, I wonder?
Jim Pon 28 Dec 2008 at 7:23 am 32Damn DH… Well you have put together a very good case for me not seeing this film until DVD. I was looking forward to this movie, but I think you have pointed out some things that I would have certainly held against this movie. The pointlessness is a big strike. Whereas in Forrest Gump, there was much to be said about an ordinary, even stunted Man doing extraordinary things, mostly because of his massive Character, in this movie it is an extraordinary man doing nothing extraordinary at all. So I am taking DH’s word on this, he isn’t usually wrong.. except in the Case of Hellboy II, where he couldn’t have been MORE wrong. But we are all entitled to being wrong now and then!
Ginaon 28 Dec 2008 at 8:08 am 33I think you have a point, Jim. People of all stripes seem to love to whale on “Forrest Gump” — I’ve never been sure why, because I’ve always liked it. (How much more conservative can you get than a film that makes the hippies and Black Panthers look stupid and self-destructive?) But in any case, that film WAS about something and it had a hero who did things and had strong relationships. Benjamin sounds like the kind who just has a lot of sex with a lot of women and watches the world go by, and while I understand that thought has appeal for some, it’s not my idea of a hero, or the subject of a great movie.
wfon 28 Dec 2008 at 10:09 am 34I think its success simply shows that people are starved for something that looks original, but also entertaining and not by definition offensive. The duration doesn´t matter if it can hold your attention.
3 out of 4 trailers give you the feeling “haven´t I seen this movie already?” Others are simply loud and obnoxious. If you want to have your great christmas movie experience and there is no Lord of the Rings sequel out there, why wouldn´t you choose this movie?
I may still see this one if I can find the time. Even if it is not very good, what else is out there apart from Gran Torino?
jamieon 28 Dec 2008 at 6:04 pm 35this movie was so long and so boring that i was ready to gouge my eyes out. three hours is way too long for most any movie. the squirming and seat wiggling in the theater held my attention longer than this pitiful movie did.
jmcon 28 Dec 2008 at 6:39 pm 36Ella makes the best case possible for Fitzgerald’s story, but I have to disagree with her. I think the movie fails because the source material was an interesting little conceit (fine -occasionally- for a short story) but not really enough of a plot to make a movie, or even a great short story.
To compare it to an entirely opposite genre, it’s like taking a successful Saturday Night Live skit and trying to turn it into a feature film. What’s funny for 4 minutes gets really old in 95 minutes. I just don’t think Button had enough meat to make it into a movie, let alone a really long movie.
Ellaon 28 Dec 2008 at 6:48 pm 37jmc,
I totally agree with you, actually. You are right. It was a fine thing to explore for 20 pages or less, but stretching it out to an hour and a half would be meandering and thin. I can’t imagine what they stuffed in to make it three hours long. Gah, that must be agonizing.
And they didn’t even re-use the 20-pages worth of point in the original story. Without that, there’s, like, only the title left. Pointless, pointless. All is vanity.
Danielon 28 Dec 2008 at 10:35 pm 38MovieBob, I think, has a point with, “I appreciate that it’s not trying to bludgeon you to death with a “point.” The story gets told, ends, and if you take a message away it’s a personal one drawn by the film effecting you on a deeper, human level.”
I’ve not seen this, and not certain I will, but while we’re getting our collective noses bent out of shape all the movies Lefty Hollywood punching us in the proverbial proboscis with, shouldn’t we appreciate a movie that tells a relatively simple story, and lets us decide what it means?
MovieBob’s comments actually make me more inclined to see it than DH’s review. Sorry, DH. I also tend to like films that leave me with more questions than answers and leaves me with lots to chew on, intellectually speaking, which is why “Gone Baby Gone” is one of my all time favorite movies.
I’m still mulling over Fitzgerald’s short story, that I linked above. I know there’s something profound there, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. … Yet.
Pat Pattersonon 29 Dec 2008 at 5:34 am 39O/T-In reference to the red star tattoo I can add that my granddad, several decades dead now, had one on the back of his hand. Eventually I asked and he explained that it represented the North Star and a safe voyage. Considering as a young officer his merchant ship was attacked by pirates off the coast of Indochina, thenlater as captain on a ship that was sunk by a German U-boat during World War I and then after re-enlisting in the Merchant Marine during World War II had one of his commands sunk off the Irish coast, again by the Germans, and another ship accidentally straffed by RAF Hurricanes off of the northern tip of Scotland I can only suggest that it was indeed lucky that he survived at all.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008) « The Fuming Pewon 29 Dec 2008 at 11:44 am 40[…] hand to the audience. John Nolte, who blogs at Dirty Harry’s Place, makes the best observation when he writes that, “This idea that adultery liberates and rejuvenates or is somehow acceptable and without […]
Enderon 29 Dec 2008 at 8:52 pm 41“So what about leftist sucker punches?”
I was waiting for them, too, especially with the framing device set against Hurricane Katrina… but there really weren’t any aside from the blink-and-you-missed it Teddy Roosevelt moment, which I didn’t think was “leftist” at all, but merely a way to get the story going.
DH is a little hard on this movie. As a technical achievement it is unparalelled. At NO TIME did I feel like I was looking at a special effect. And the Lightning Strike guy provided no less than 5 laugh-out-loud moments.
And the last 20-30 minutes will melt you if you have a soul. I never cried so hard at the sight of an old woman walking down the street with and giving a kiss on the cheek to a 3-year-old. Absolutely devastating.
It’s not a GREAT-great movie, but it’s a pretty good one. It felt mildly Gump-ish to me, then I remembered Eric Roth wrote it so… duh.
Attmayon 30 Dec 2008 at 4:11 pm 42When I saw the TV spot for this the first thing that came to mind was Mearth from “Mork and Mindy.”
evaon 01 Jan 2009 at 7:54 am 43i enjoyed the movie, its a delightful story with great characters.
i must have some fascination with the concept of time so the clock that ticked backwards was very intriguing to me. the idea that death is inevitable even if you get younger was a strong keypoint for me because Daisy was becoming sad at the fact that the one she loved was getting younger(we all envy the young while we get old)…but the fact remains that we do all end up in diapers.
to note “Children usually don’t get dementia”
children dont get dementia… Benjamin was born old… but he grew up learning like a child(personally i thought it was delightful to see him learning about the world…and to sort of get a perspective of things as a child would see them…if you havent read The Little Prince please do…it is a great book). so he grows up like a child…but he dies like an old person would, forgetting the wonderful memories that we ought to cherish and hold tight.
so ultimately, it doesnt matter if we are young or old, and it doesnt matter how we age… we all exhibit the same sequence of learning about life…but its how we experience life itself that makes the difference
one other thing…i noticed that there were many scenes in which a clock would strike an hour…i cant recall the scenes and dont know whether there was a significance to that. so perhaps if you watch the movie, take note, when the clock strikes an hour…does it signify something?
the only thing i could come up so far is that it was imagery for Benjamin learning a life’s lesson…or growing younger but wiser.
coffeeon 02 Jan 2009 at 8:41 am 44Benjamin Button was very Fincher-esque… almost as good as his other stuff if not for some nagging plot holes
Growltigeron 27 Jun 2009 at 11:57 am 45just curious to see if we can still post here. I saw Benjamin Button and liked it.