THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON directed by David Fincher, screenplay by Eric Roth from the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, with Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson and Jared Harris. A Paramount release. 165 minutes. Opens December 25. For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NN
Starry cast is done in by director’s emotional detachment
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The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is supposed to be the film where David Fincher transcends his Kubrickian reputation for heartlessness. Instead, he winds up confirming it.
Fincher is, quite simply, the wrong man to tell this story. The director of Seven, Panic Room and Zodiac has never been terribly interested in human relationships his weakest film, The Game, stumbles at the finish line because it can’t deliver the big emotional catharsis its plot demands.
And now, with this digital fantasia about a man who’s born old and becomes younger over time, Fincher has once again run headlong into his limitations as a storyteller, approaching each new scene as if it were a technical problem to be solved rather than a story to be told.
Yes, it’s cool that the face of Brad Pitt – made up to appear 75 or 80 – can be convincingly superimposed on a child actor’s body. But we’re forced to appreciate the majesty of each new wizened special effect for far longer than necessary.
Pitt and Cate Blanchett are digitally tweaked within an inch of their virtual lives. When Blanchett appears as a teenager, without a line on her lovely face, it’s chilling rather than impressive. And when Pitt later turns up similarly youthenized, he seems to have been matted in from A River Runs Through It. I couldn’t focus on his dialogue because I was so creeped out by the effect.
Of course, every time I did tune back in to the movie, I was smacked in the face by Eric Roth’s clumsy script, which applies his Forrest Gump template over F. Scott Fitzgerald’s concept of a backwards-aging hero. Only the framing device is different, with that park bench replaced by a New Orleans hospital room, Hurricane Katrina raging outside the window.
It’s a computer-generated metaphor! It doesn’t mean anything – and its inclusion here is actually kind of obscene, if you think about it for even a second – but isn’t it awesome?
It’s really not. But I bet the DVD extras will be astonishing.
If the Academy falls under its spell, this could place in every major category: picture, director, adapted screenplay and acting attention for Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson. Even if the Academy hates it, count on a visual effects nod.
If the Academy falls under its spell, this could place in every major category: picture, director, adapted screenplay and acting attention for Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and Taraji P. Henson. Even if the Academy hates it, count on a visual effects nod.
normw@nowtoronto.com
