MOVIE REVIEW: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of the leading contenders for the Best Picture of the year but has been receiving wild ecstatic raves and vicious pans from the filmerati.

The Oscar nominations come out on Thursday January 24th and most Oscarologists expect "Ben Button" to be in the elite group of Best Picture nominees, and may have the most nominations overall.

As the above pictures indicate, the film stars Oscar winner (The Aviator) Cate Blanchett and (2-time) World's Sexiest Man Brad Pitt and was written by Oscar-winner Eric Roth (Forrest Gump). Oscar winner Tilda Swinton (Michael Clayton) also has a pivotal role. However, the real star of the film is the stunning visual effects that depict the reverse-aging of Brad Pitt's character Benjamin Button as well as the forward-aging of Cate Blanchett's Daisy.

This is clearly film-making at a very high level, with the art direction, cinematography and score particularly notable. The producers of this film often work with Steven Spielberg and clearly they intended The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to have the magic of some of his classic films and/or Forrest Gump. Sadly, "Ben Button" does not reach those heights; it is a very good, but not great film.

The central conceit of the film, that someone would be born very old and physically age in reverse actually is quite effective. This plot device actually provokes some serious ruminations on the nature of life by the viewer which is often the hallmark of great art. Interestingly, despite having a structural lack of suspense (we know that Benjamin Button is going to have to "grow young and die") Eric Roth's script does an excellent job of still providing twists and turns that surprise and delight.

Both Blanchett and Pitt give spellbinding performances. Pitt, especially astounds in his physical ability to embody younger and younger versions of himself. However, I was also struck by Blanchett's even more difficult (albeit more traditional) performance that contains more physically humbling scenes. Taraji P. Henson plays Brad Pitt's adoptive mother as one of several "magic negroes" that mar the film's emotional impact. The shooting of the film in and around New Orleans, Louisiana does provide an interesting emotional frisson as well as the inclusion of the somewhat controversial Hurricane Katrina sub-plot featuring Julia Ormond.

Overall, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is one of the best films of the year; with outstanding performances by both lead actors and an intriguing plot devices that provides an opportunity for self-reflection.

Running Time: 2 hours, 46 minutes, MPAA Rating: PG-13.

OVERALL GRADE: B+/A-.

ACTING: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
PLOT: B+.
IMPACT: B+.