Brad Pitt creates some serious eye candy in The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button
Remember
that sweeping epic which spans across several generations, gorgeous
landscapes, tackles human intolerance and cherishes that never ending
cinematic notion of love we were all promised?
Well it's here - and it sure as hell isn't directed by Baz Lurhman.
In fact, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button goes a long way to showing the big-self-noting director of Australia just how it's done... and for about the same price as well!
Adapted from the 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by cinematic visionary David Fincher (the guy behind Seven, Fight Club and the highly underrated The Game) Benjamin Button is a grand tale about a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards.
Starring Brad Pitt and
Cate Blanchett, this glorious looking film is the story of a
not-so-ordinary man and the people and places he discovers along the
way.
To be honest, this one had me sold from the moment I sat down - if only because it travels a very similar path to Tim Burton's Big Fish (a film that was never particularly well received - but probably stands as one of my favourite films ever).
David
Fincher fills the screen with a sense of magic along with not only
emotional, but a visual romance - each shot looking like a perfectly
composed painting.
That said, with a running time of just over two and a half hours The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button does occasionally suffer from a case of the Meet Joe Black's in that Fincher seems to develop a bit of a crush on Brad Pitt.
There
are close ups and lingering shots of the younger incarnation of Pitt a
plenty here - which if excluded could probably save us all a good
fourty five minutes of our lives.
But with a dude this beautiful (and I say that with total confidence in my own sexuality) can you blame him?
What does hold Benjamin Button back, however, is the love interest.
Cate Blanchett gives a stirling performance, layered with intricacies - yet it just doesn't seem right for this film.
Again, it has nothing to do with how Blanchett performs, but more so what she has to work with. Her character is shallow, selfish and downright unlikeable.
Let's just be blunt... she's a bit of a mole (and she's a dancer - surprise, surprise).
I've
always been a sucker for a good "love conquers all" story (it's part
and parcel of growing up with two sisters in the house), but it only
works if you (as an audience member) actually want to see both parties
find happiness with each other.
It
almost ruins your day to see such devotion of cinematic love wasted on
such a self centered, spoiled brat that just assumes she deserves all
the happiness in the world.
It is the inability to convince the
audience that Blanchett's "Daisy" is worth Pitt's endearing "Benjamin"
to pine over for the length of his long, backwards life. It is a fatal
flaw that stops the audience from ever becoming totally involved in the
on screen world or the love affair.
That said, there is something wondrously special about The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button which overrides any superficial problems that pop up from time to time.
And, if for nothing else, it's also an excuse for the women of the world to drool over Brad Pitt.
Honestly, between this and Twilight,
the gals have had a pretty good run at the cinema's of late in terms of
eye candy - and one can only hope that karma evens things up for the
lads and delivers Barb Wire 2 into theatres soon! 4 out
of 5
The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Australian release: 25th January,
2009 Official
Site:The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Tilda Swinton, Julia Ormond Director: David Fincher
