The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

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. (02/01/2009)

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. (02/09/2009)

David Fincher has better stuff under his belt, but Benjamin Button is a memorable film nonetheless. It’s a sentimental tale about life and death that in 160 minutes portrays a completely ordinary story affected by unusual circumstances. But there’s power in simplicity, it allows the film to reveal the meaning of all the symbols that fill its runtime, delivering by the end an emotional load that mixes sadness, melancholy and fatality in precisely calculated proportions, one that will bring tears to the eyes of the more sensitive viewers… The firm director’s hand and the dreamy atmosphere are only secondary reasons to grant it 5 stars. Gorgeous. (01/31/2009)

This film is an honest piece of craftsmanship, into which Fincher has put a lot of his unmistakable ideas, and yet they don't really attract attention and thus leave enough room for the story. The story itself could actually be told in a moment. It’s not that I was bored - the director can tell a story engagingly enough for that, but this is his first film that completely missed the mark for me emotionally. Maybe that’s because of the fact that Cate Blanchett just doesn't "fit" in the film for me and she flutters a bit behind the excellent Pitt, and also because of the lengthy runtime, which is just too long given the amount of plot. Some people obviously think that a perfect style can carry a film. I give it a weaker four stars. (01/02/2009)

Unlike Forrest Gump, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is not a celebration of an exceptional "fool", but much more an ad absurdum led by a metaphor for the ruthlessness of passing time, which unites and divides and does not take hostages... We do not find herein a fundamental part of a great history that the heroes would, like Švejk, circumnavigate in a cocoon of wise madness; Benjamin's journey is more pensive, simpler, and not as epic. In this respect, it is much more like Burton's Big Fish - it is not a metaphor for great society, but a metaphor for one life, one time, into which the times of the other characters are freely intertwined. The uniqueness of everyday life, the search for ideal balance, the fateful chaining of various timelines and the extraordinarily conciliatory picture of old age, is all loosely chained around the picture of a clock that goes backwards. Fincher tells a fairy tale in which the tones of harmony do not dominate, but rather the tones of melancholy and a kind of conciliatory realization that everything passes away, regardless of the direction in which time passes. Finiteness is immutable. Perhaps at first I was missing some more individuality, although the sense for detail, the wonderfully pastel visual and the fantastic pace of the storytelling are admirable. But that is not what this is about. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a Hollywood film, it has the philosophy of Hollywood (it does not offend), and has Hollywood emotions (it does not offend). The sentiment is balanced by the absence of an epic idyll. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film about mortality, not immortality... That's why it is able do something more than an ordinary love story – evoke a feeling of deep participation. The film succeeded from my perspective, even though its wisdom is a bit typically “old". (02/15/2009)

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 (03/01/2009)

I have a lot of respect for David Fincher, not just because of this magnificent drama. It's incredible the way he can present a film to the audience. The story is original. Brad Pitt’s performance makes this film really unique and unbeatable!! 100% for the great cast, the idea, and the way it’s presented. (02/10/2011)

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)

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. (02/14/2009)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is definitely a film you need to watch multiple times. Depending on our frame of mind, we can appreciate the individual components, Fitzgerald's theme, the lavish acting of Pitt and Blanchett, or Tilda Swinton's perfect little performance, who manages to steal a good half of the film for herself. I have a soft spot for the atmosphere of pre-war New Orleans and I'm glad Fincher paid homage to it in this way. (03/21/2013)

A highly intelligent, expertly directed, and unobtrusively presented romance. Fantastic camera work, lighting, and music score, and an overall captured feeling that plays a similar crucial role as in Blade Runner, The English Patient, or 1492. A mesmerizing audiovisual gem that, however, failed to captivate me, which I consider a lamentable lack. The question is, where the mistake lies. (03/08/2009)

Now I have no doubts about the directorial genius of David Fincher; he can manage to film tragic life stories with the same verve as suspenseful and raw detective stories. This film exudes an amazing atmosphere that only Zemeckis's Forrest Gump can match, and the 160 minutes flow as quickly as water between the fingers. Brad Pitt gives his best performance so far and easily carries on his shoulders the whole weight of a sad story that unwillingly leads to an unhappy ending. The work of the make-up artists is also amazing, they really played with Pitt's face, and in the first half you can hardly recognise the features of Hollywood’s biggest hearth-throb. It may seem that the story is just attacking the viewer's feelings, but in this case it attacks them so unobtrusively and, most importantly, effectively that I was glad to sacrifice a tear. One of my Top 20 films. (04/09/2012)

What can be so great about a film where one character ages backwards? Haven't we seen this before? Of course! Arabela... However, this is based on the work of Francis Scott Fitzgerald, who is definitely not some B-list writer, but one of the most acclaimed writers of the last century. Furthermore, incredible names have come together in the adaptation - David Fincher, Brad Pitt, and Cate Blanchett. David Fincher has shown that the new millennium is his era. Films like "Se7en" and "Fight Club" hinted at what he is capable of, and now he is selling it fully. "The Social Network," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," these are all films that will not leave you indifferent. Especially not "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," which can confidently be counted among such brilliant films as "Forrest Gump" or "Big Fish." Beautiful imaginative stories where we experience the incredible lives of amazing, albeit fantastic characters. Beauty and sadness come together in a wonderful story. More: http://www.filmovy-denik.cz/2012/04/frost-vs-nixon-bos-vs-kung-fu-trocha.html (02/16/2013)

A story told beautifully, sensitively, and with tremendous experience about the impermanence of life, but also about love and self-sacrifice. The important thing is that David Fincher doesn't push the envelope (and there are plenty of moments to push the envelope in the almost three-hour running time), he doesn't try to wring emotions out of the viewer, but instead philosophically and sometimes a bit sentimentally contemplates life. Brad Pitt is no longer a mere commercial icon, but a mature and really good actor. There's no point in going on about Cate Blanchett, she's simply amazing from beginning to end.)) The formal aspect is excellent, starting with the music and ending with the set design, I would especially like to highlight the almost "chamber" music score, which serves its purpose perfectly. It's good to know that David Fincher has a soul as well as balls. :) (01/09/2010)