Two hours and 48 minutes seems a long time for a movie about a man aging backwards. That’s what I thought before going in to see the movie. But my opinion quickly changed. The movie maintains a hurried pace throughout though it does pause for a few poignant moments. At the end of it, you wonder if it could have been a trifle longer.
What defines Benjamin’s (Brad Pitt) ‘affliction’ is his relationship with Daisy. Cate Blanchett is an accomplished actress who plays her role as Daisy superbly. The relationship that starts when Daisy is around five years old spans six decades and it takes us on a journey which is a fantasy but one where you almost believe it’s true. It’s a beautiful though flawed relationship and hence is believable. It is a relationship between individuals who meet early in life and have the ups and downs as is natural. Benjamin’s affair with Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) seemed more natural and more comfortable than the one with Daisy. It was a relationship between two mature individuals who wanted companionship more than anything else.
Brad Pitt has given one of the most memorable performances of his life. He has brilliantly portrayed the mismatch between Benjamin’s physical and mental age. The scene where he leaves Daisy and his daughter is a heart wrenching moment where you can feel the pain of the man and the uncertainty of the boy. Benjamin’s journey is something only he can comprehend. The audience and the other characters can only imagine how it must be to grow younger and older at the same time.
To cover as many eras’s as the movie tried in the time it had seems unfair to the story. The movie makers were trying to make an epic when they should have just concentrated on doing justice to the central theme of the story. That is the only flaw of the movie.
With the extraordinary acting by almost everyone in it, the excellent directing and the fantastic story, we will be seeing The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in many award ceremonies, being nominated and winning a few. It is a movie I would definitely watch again.
No comments:
Post a Comment