The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Cinesnob Delight (Spoiler Warning)

(I’ll have some spoilers later as I discuss some of the deeper themes of this movie, but I’ll let you know when they are coming)

So most of the reviews of this movie are coming in fairly mixed, and while it is not without fault, I can’t stop thinking about the themes and the choices made by it’s central characters. That’s when you know you’ve been captivated by a movie. David Fincher is a visual genius. I’ve been a fan ever since he broke out of the music video circuit with Alien3. His movies (Fight Club, Seven, Panic Room, Zodiac, The Game) are all considerably dark movies. They are filled with nihilism, death, fear, and a lot of trippy camera work. Fight Club still remains one of the most poignant studies of existential angst among genX males ever committed to film. In short…Fincher really knows how to speak to guys. Just like Stephanie Meyer has done with women (and my wife) with the whole Twilight series, he knows how to get at our core…what inspires us, what motivates us, and what we are afraid of. In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, he does it again. At first glance, one might not see the parallels between a high-falutin’, Oscar-baitin’, period sweepin’ epic light Button and a movie like Fight Club, with all it’s blood and subversion, but in truth, thematicaly, they are very similar. Both demand you to answer the question…what do you do with the time you’ve been given? Time is precious…and there is no sense wasting it all with propriety and duty when you should be truly living.

In Button, Brad Pitt plays a man who is aging in reverse, and, setting aside the dramatic aspect of that conceit for a moment, it is a process that I was very skeptical about how Fincher would be pull it off technically. Would they put kids in wrinkled latex makeup? Would they CGI Pitt’s face to someone? In fact, they do a mashup of the two…and it worked sublimely. Standing on the shoulders of Gollum, Bob Zemekis, and Speilberg, Fincher adds a new delicacy to the possibility of CGI to help tell a story. And while I’m speaking about the aging process, let me also say that what was done with Brad Pitt’s love interest Daisy was amazing as well. we see Daisy, played by Cate Blanchett, age from 8 to her 80’s. While various children handle her younger years, Blanchett inhabits her from the slender, porcelin faced ballerina of 23 to the pale, cancer striken ghost of 89 with complete believability. Her face at times digitally morphed onto the bodies of young women and brushed free of wrinkles, while other times, it is enhanced with the translucence that comes with age and a few rounds of chemo. The special effects work on this production is dripping from every shot, but it became seamlessly woven into the fabric of the narrative. While I am gushing about Fincher’s meticulous dedication to detail, let me also geek out for a moment on his method of using film treatment and digital coloring to match his shots to their time periods. While it was usually saved for montage type shots, notice when you watch how the film is processed to look old and scratchy when it’s narrative is in the early 1900’s and into the 20’s. Then later, in the 50’s, the film takes on that golden, warm saturation we see in the color movies from the 50’s. As the film moves into describing what Benjamin was up to throughout the 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s…the footage looks almost like it was captured at that point in history with equipment available at that time. It’s a miniscule detail that I bring your attention to so that you can geek about it with me.

Beyond the technical prowess of the film is the overall theme of time.  Time is precious…so don’t waste it, but there is always time to make up for your mistakes, for your broken relationships.  (Here is where this might get a little spoiler-ish)  In using the device of aging backwards, there is always a sense of urgency within the love story of the two leads.  Benjamin and Daisy are technically the same age, and upon reaching adulthood, are close enough in their outward age to have a relationship.  Although I won’t explain how, they do end up spending the majority of their life together, so saying that it has a happy ending is really up to the viewer.  As Benajmin ages, and the his youth begins to wind him down, he makes a tough parental decision.  His decision made me more uncomfortable than any in the movie.  Jess hated his decision.  Me, I would not have had the strength to go through with his decision as it is as selfless and self-sacrificing as anyone could ever make.  I’ve been telling friends that if they are a husband and a father, they should take a box of kleenex.  Just as 10 years ago, Fincher knew how to speak to a generation of 20 somethings, he now knows just how to pull at the hearts of dudes in their 30’s.  Guys who are trying to be good providers, good dads, sometimes wondering if their life is what they had hoped, or if they have the energy to sustain it, or the strength to do what is right.  I was a wreck, dude.  I felt like the lights came up all too quickly as the credits rolled…wiping the puffy eyes and supressing the pain in my throat.  I know I sound like a wuss, but the story gripped me.

Also, from a purely historical standpoint, the movie is a love letter to the 20th Century.  I wonder how history will paint the 1900s.  It is an era apart from anything before it, and I believe we won’t see anything like it for sometime.  The world changed so much in the years between Benjamin’s birth and Daisy’s death…the movie is bookended by the end of World War I and Hurricane Katrina.  I found myself captivated that so many events and technolgical leaps brought the world into an age of flight, computers, information, communication, and medicine in such a short amount of time.

I am glad to have seen Benajmin’s journey and while his story is a ludicrous conceit, it is a rich study of human interraction and what it means to live.  Go see it.

Why no love for “Speed Racer?”

So, I went to see Speed Racer today with my five year old daughter. I didn’t go late at night with Jonny-Ri, I went on a date with my princess.  Before I went I read some reviews by simply typing the title into Google News and here is what you see: entry after entry about how much the movie sucked. It’s too bad really, because I had a great time. Sure, Cinesnob would think this movie is trifle, but he is asleep until September anyway (He might stretch his legs a little for The Happening) This movie IS creative, it IS groundbreaking, and it IS entertaining. If you don’t think that’s the case, then you probably have a point. I took my kid, and we had a blast. This is a kid’s movie, hence the PG rating, so don’t expect much more. Personally, I loved that the storyline was fairly straightforward and that it was so family affirming.

I asked my daughter while I was tucking her in tonight to give me some words to describe her experience. She said that she loved it because it was “really super exciting when they were racing, and the fighting was funny. Chim-chim was funny too!” (Chim-Chim is the family chimpanzee.) We talked about rating movies with thumbs up or down, and she gives it a thumbs up.

I give it a thumbs up too. I have no idea how they created the crazy saturation of color that permeated every frame. Along with a new focus technique that allows certain areas of the frame to be in our out of focus, the color gave the whole film the feeling of a kinetic comic book. The silly fight scenes, the sublime vaudeville score from composer It-man Michael Giacchino, and Roger Allam in the Tim Curry role of the big, rich, evil, baddie all contribute to a movie that is vastly watchable and entertaining.

Trust me. Go see it. Just don’t go with high expectations.

Iron Man Opening Night

I have been talking about this film for months. When I heard about Jon Favreau being on board I was surprised and excited with the unusual directing choice by Marvel. When Robert Downey Jr. showed up as the the leading man it felt like the perfect pick. But being the skeptic I am I was worried about the outcome all the way until the lights dimmed in the theater last night when I saw it.

To cut with the suspense I’ll just flat out say that I feel the movie was a huge success. Better than Spider-Man’s first attempt, better than the Hulk, Fantastic Four or Daredevil combined and even better than X-Men’s first try at the title.

The movie had a great pace which is key in these origin films. They kept you informed while continuing to move along at a steady speed. The characters were engaging, believable and well scripted. The art direction was fantastic and the visual effects were dazzling yet seamless.

Robert Downey Jr. blew everyone in the audience away with his masterful depiction of Tony Stark. I am really curious to see where this film might take his career in the coming years. I feel like with this film he has hit a new level that if he plays his cards right and stays focused he could use it as a stepping stone into much more substantial movies than in his previous career.

Everyone is confident in not only seeing it as a trilogy starter but also a starter to a good trilogy. I fully recommend this film, it is the perfect opener to your summer film festivities.

The Story of a Film of a Murderer

Last year, during the fall I believe, I rented the movie Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, an obscure and intense film made in Germany that hardly anyone saw here in the states. It received blockbuster status in Europe instantly but was deemed “unmarketable” in the US and was only in limited release here for a short while.

The filmed is based on Patrick Suskind’s novel, Perfume, and it follows the story of an impoverished and abandoned orphan with a near supernatural olfactory sense and is plagued with the quest for the perfect sent. He then attempts to create that scent by distilling the odors of beautiful women whom he murders and combines them all together.

Let me start off with a disclaimer by saying this film is visually intense, very graphic, very dark and not created for the general American public in mind. In other words, Cinesnob factor 9 here folks.

However, if you can get past the unconventional storytelling style the film utilizes you will be surprised to discover one of the most beautifully sad films ever created. (SPOILER WARNING)

Grenouille, the main character, is gifted and plagued throughout the entire film with a curse. He has the best nose in the world and yet he is alone in his naivety on how to properly use it. He finds no greater delight than in smelling all things beautiful but knows nothing of companionship, family or even love. The film climaxes in the final unveiling of Grenouille’s master perfume on the day of his execution in which he uses it to swoon the entire mob that has gathered to see his imminent death.

But in the end he is confronted with a stark and debilitating truth that although he has found a complex and also deadly way to immortalize the intoxicating sent of any beautiful woman he meets he has completely missed the point. He could have just as easily “immortalized” the scent of the first maiden he meets and accidentally kills in the beginning of the film by simply loving her and having a relationship with her forever. It is one of the most heartbreaking moments in a movie I have ever seen.

The rest of the movie is a little odd, mind you I liked it, but I don’t foresee many of you renting or even renting it and liking it unless you are prone to enjoying european types of cinema. All in all I gave the film an A- for the cinesnobs out there but a C+ for the rest of the populace.

Smart People (2008) Review

You know the setup. Dennis Quaid, incredible IQ, retarded social abilities. Sarah Jessica Parker, pretty smart, emotionally confused. Emma Page, incredible IQ, retarded social abilities. Thomas Haden Church, pretty smart, emotionally confused. Not a new formula but not a bad formula.

As a whole, the movie got a B+ overall with maybe a low A- in character development. What did surprise was that Dennis Quaid, an man whom I probably wouldn’t even put on my top 100 list of best actors in my time, actually pulled a fairly solid performance throughout the film as a very depressing and yet redeeming protagonist.

The script was ok, the witty banter between characters was good, general storyline believability was solid and the themes of redemption and growth were fulfilling and well played out. I’d recommend it to see in theaters if it is still in one near you but you’d be just as fine renting it on a rainy day.