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December 24, 2008

Curious Case of Benjamin Button is intriguing

As a film, Benjamin Button is intelligent, philosophical and artistic. Almost every shot is well thought out and well-shot. It is indeed an odd and curious film and one worth seeing.

This story was written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. He was reportedly inspired to write the story from a Mark Twain quote, “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.”

I found the movie intriguing — and not only because of the protagonist aging oppositely to the rest of the world. To paraphrase the liner notes, the movie illustrated that regardless of the ebb and flow of time, man and his relationships to others always present difficulties and opportunities. It is up to the individual to make what he or she will of those chances life offers. The DFW Critics Association rated this movie relatively correctly in my opinion, placing it third of the top 10.

The make-up was very good and the acting — note the way the characters carry themselves as they age or become younger —

The movie is long, but it gives the director and actors time to flesh out and substantiate the characters in a way that most movies fail to do.

Golden Globe nominations for the movie are for Best Motion Picture — Drama; Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture — Drama, Brad Pitt; Best Director, David Fincher; and Best Screenplay, Eric Roth.

All in all, it was an excellent release, photographically, cosmetologically, musically and in telling the tale.

Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas and Tilda Swinton

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Rating (*** 1/2 out of *****)

Synopsis: (Courtesy of Paramount Pictures) “I was born under unusual circumstances.” And so begins “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” 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. From New Orleans at the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, on a journey as unusual as any man's life can be, the film tells the grand tale of a not so ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the way, the loves he finds and loses, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.

This film has been rated PG-13 for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking.

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