The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Personally, I didn't expect to be so taken with Button but it was a joy to watch his life story. I have a feeling that David Fincher took the same meticulous approach as he did in Zodiac and just grafted it into a fairy tale about a guy who is growing younger and making his way through life despite being so peculiar. This acting recital from Brad Pitt (I stopped being shocked about the Oscar nomination) shines through the mask, and the completely natural special effects are perfectly complemented by red-head Cate Blanchett. It occurs to me to compare it with Zemekis's Forrest Gump but The Curious Case of Benjamin Button triumphs over dumb escapades with subtle humor and minimalism. Again, compliments to Fincher and also to Pitt. P.S.: It really pays to see it in a movie theater. (14/02/2009)

After a second screening, I was able to fully appreciate this moving meditation on life and death. It just confirmed for me the well-known truth that great films are to be enjoyed in the darkness of the cinema, with quality sound and image, and that it is for films like this that the big screens are made. The film flew by so that the 2 and a half hours felt like half an hour, I lost track of time and enjoyed the hypnotically captivating symbiosis of image and music. Then the emotions surfaced naturally, I would have set a lot of the thoughts expressed there in stone, and I guess it's true that the more you have experienced and the more you realize the transience of time, the more the film speaks to you internally (my mother was bawling like a baby). Cinema magic. Thanks, David. (09/02/2009)

While the movie is only about him and not them, I have no major objections. But after that I have several. I’d sum it up with a sad sigh, that although the creators decided to use nothing else from Fitzgerald’s story other than the title (which, on the one hand, is not surprising), and instead blatantly (but unadmittedly) ripped off Greer’s Confessions of Max Tivoli, they could at least have stuck to it in their portrayal of Max and Alice’s relationship. Oops, sorry, I meant Benjamin and Daisy’s relationship, of course. This bittersweet, albeit tasteful lemonade could not equate to Greer’s condensed broth filled with melancholy and sadness. I know, I know, comparing a book to a movie is unfair, but this time it was Roth who started it. If he has to "borrow" ideas elsewhere, he should at least do it with some style. Not in this haphazard way, substituting the best part with a cold romance we’ve seen a hundred times before. ♫ OST score: 3/5 (01/03/2009)

I know that the movie is about the relentless passage of time, fateful encounters, and mutual passing in life. But with all due respect to the luxurious cast, budget, and technically precise direction, this is the only Fincher film that bores me and, above all, almost evokes no emotions in me. I am indifferent to the fate of the protagonist and in such cases, I cannot give it more than two stars. Overall impression: 45%. (01/01/2013)

A masterfully crafted arrow which, however, takes a too direct path to its target and is above all TOO LONG, in addition to being made of components that we already know too well. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button spoke to me with its magical first third full of sincere kindness and breathtaking effects that turn the digital Brad Pitt into a better actor than the real one we see later. But the rest is filled with cotton wool, having little to offer beyond things that are superfluous to Benjamin’s story. Overall, it’s a nice movie, but not the film of the year. David Fincher is wasted on such mainstream audience ass-kissing. This is paradoxically his least interesting and controversial work. (01/02/2009)