#8- The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (9 of 10)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a well crafted film, one which is enjoyable the first time and bares up to re-watching. It was all around good, with good acting, an excellent plot and lovable characters.

In the film, Benjamin, the title character, is born in a senile condition but becomes younger with time, like reverse ageing. While the core of the story is about his relationship with a girl who ages in a more mundane fashion the film meanders, not in a bad way, about Benjamin's whole life.

The film's strongest point is its complex plot, with several side stories weaving in and out of the primary plot. For example, a former professional swimmer who meets and becomes a love interest of Benjamin reappears briefly later in the movie, after swimming the English Channel. This particular style of film reminds me of another great film, Forest Gump in which a full life story is told, with several similar side stories.

Another interesting part of the movie was the special effects used in making the actors appear the correct ages for the story. As for Daisy, the heroine of the story, several actresses are used, however Benjamin is played by Brad Pitt from senility to infancy. A small piece of film trivia here, before 1956 the standard in the film industry was to hire older actors and use makeup to make them appear younger if the film had to cover younger parts of their lives, however with the film Giant (one of James Dean's three major films) younger actors, i.e. James Dean, where used and where made to look older. It was a very novel approach at the time but has become commonplace. It's interesting how far we've come since then.

All in all The Curious Case of Benjamin Button was an all around excellent film, a must see and perhaps the best film for some time before or since. At the same time, I realize that this movie may not be for all, due to the relatively high need to pay close attention.