Photo: Getty Images
Benjamin Button might be a curious case, but it's no mystery as to why it has top-5 box office sales and across-the-board critical stamps of approval: have you ever had fantasies of Brad Pitt (playing the most perfectly Brad Pitt-esque version of himself)? How about Cate Blanchett? How about the two of them together, living out every possible dream of love affairs inspired by Banana Republic ads? Oh yeah, you also get a brief fling with Tilda Swinton to boot! Sure, its 3 hours long, but it only feels tedious to those not in love/lust with these actors. Those of us who shivered with possibility when the casting for this movie was first announced will have all our hopes and dreams consummated.
It's earnest and dramatic and makes no effort to hide the plucking of heart strings, but who cares? We don't love fables because they are realistic, we love them because they make us feel good. And by "feel good" I mean "trying to muffle your sobs in the crowded theater." One friend called the movie Titanic meets Forrest Gump, and I wanted to argue this David Fincher film might have more indie cred and depth than those two, but maybe not. Instead I'd say add a dash of Fried Green Tomatoes to the mix.
The special effects magic of Brad Pitt's reverse aging is not overly distracting, but even more impressive is Cate Blanchett as a both a teenager and twentysomething dancer -- the scenes of their awkward meetings before the mojo timing is right are cringe-inducing in their familiarity. Who hasn't been the narcissistic overtalker on the first date? Fincher captures old New Orleans beautifully as Benjamin's home-base, the architecture and southern drawls suit everyone. Taraji P. Hanson plays his adoptive mother with the same appeal she brought to Hustle & Flow, living up to her character's namesake, Butterfly McQueen. The original F. Scott Fitzgerald short story has no such racially harmonious back story: it was originally set in Baltimore, and it doesn't even have the driving love affair that extends throughout his life -- literary Benjamin's wife is named Hildegarde who doesn't figure prominently at all. Thank the heavens this storyline got a reboot as savvy as Star Trek or Battlestar Galactica.
-- A. RAYMOND JOHNSON
Previously > You say you want a revolution
Comments