curious_caseBB - Christ In Culture

“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards”

The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button Cast, Crew, Story, Theme, Review Muse-En-Scene, Life Connections

The story of a man who is born in his eighties and ages backwards: a man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. We follow his story, set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be. MPAA Rating: PG-13 (for brief war violence, sexual content, language and smoking) The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

BRAD PITT (Benjamin Button)  Benjamin is the emotional core of the movie. He is an ‘everyman’ in reverse

 Director David Fincher: “It’s perhaps the stillest performance Brad has ever given … Benjamin doesn’t ‘do’ a lot, per se, but, man, he goes through an enormous amount” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

CATE BLANCHETT (Daisy)

 The director had Blanchett on his mind since catching her performance in Elizabeth  Blanchett embodies a woman, who has to make peace with the idea of growing older while the person she loves is getting younger The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

TARAJI P. HENSON (Queenie)  Queenie gives the story it’s grace and warmth. Her unconditional love toward Benjamin and others is breathtaking

 Taraji P. Henson: “It’s been a very spiritual journey for me. I had just lost my father, and even though I miss him dearly, it’s almost as if his death was a part of my journey towards Queenie” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

DAVID FINCHER (Director)  Directed Se7en, Fight Club, and Panic Room  Tilda Swinton: “I think David has the artist's sense of holding the actual material of filmmaking in his own hands. His sleeves are up... (he) sees limitless possibilities …with the attitude of a true pioneer. He’s like a child in a sandbox” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

ERIC ROTH (Screenplay): While conceiving and writing the screenplay, Roth experienced the personal loss of both of his parents. “Their deaths were obviously very painful for me, and gave me a different perspective on things. I think people will respond to the same things in this story that I responded to.”

He also wrote “Forrest Gump,” for which he won the Oscar. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

This is the second Hollywood feature film, after Denzel Washington's Deja Vu (2006), to film in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. The movie props were donated to the victims of Hurricane Katrina in the 9th ward of New Orleans. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

F. Scott Fitzgerald

Mark Twain

Originally a 1920s short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, who, in turn, drew his own inspiration from a quote by Mark Twain: “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.”

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

The story begins in New Orleans at the end of World War I in 1918 with the unveiling a giant clock in the grand central train station. The clock runs backward in memory of the fallen soldiers who will never know a future.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

At the very moment that the backward running clock is unveiled Benjamin is born with the appearance and physical limitations of a man in his eighties.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

When Benjamin’s mother dies in childbirth, his father, horrified at his elderly appearance, abandons the baby on the steps of Nolan House, a retirement home for the elderly.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

In an act of unconditional love, Queenie who heads the home, becomes Benjamin’s adoptive mother.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

Benjamin begins aging backward. While in the home, he meets Daisy, a young aspiring ballerina. There is an instant bond that lasts throughout their lifetimes. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

As the story progresses, the two fall in love, while struggling to deal with the issue of one growing younger while the other grows older. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

IN THE DAVID LEAN* TRADITION Frank Marshall: “The emotional poignancy of the film achieves its power through David Fincher’s use of the camera as the observer. He wants you involved in the character study, so the camerawork becomes more studied and calm. It’s not a film that requires quick cuts and visceral frenetic camera moves.” *David Lean’s film style is best seen in his ‘Laurence of Arabia’ The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

THE LIGHT SOURCES CHANGE WITH THE ERAS. Director David Fincher: “There’s progression in the technology, going from candles to gas lamps and clear bulb incandescents to fluorescents. There are some movie lights, but not a lot. For the most part, it was shot digitally to be able to utilize these kinds of light sources, and also to be able to move quickly.” The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

CONNECTIONS. There are tributes to: ― James Dean ― Marlon Brandon ― The Beatles ― Fallen soldiers (WWI specifically and in Iraq by extension) ― Katrina victims

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

The head is Brad’s, but the body is not.

HOW THE FACES AND BODIES WERE MADE TO AGE A camera system called Contour, developed by Steve Perlman, was used to capture facial deformation data from live action performances. This enabled Brad and Cate’s faces to be ‘pasted’ onto the bodies of older and younger actors.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

Overwhelmingly Positive Consensus voice: "An epic tale that contemplates the wonders of life -- of birth and death and, most of all, love" --Kirk Honeycutt, Hollywood Reporter The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

“Even though Benjamin is going backwards, the first kiss and the first love are still as significant and meaningful to him. It doesn’t make any difference whether you live your life backwards or forwards – it’s how you live your life” --Screenwriter Eric Roth

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

Existentialist theologian Soren Kierkegaard famously said, “Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.” True enough! It is his word that appear in the movie trailer for this intriguing masterpiece. The film, however, makes clear that we can understand something of life by the people we meet along our life’s way. Director David Fincher puts it this way, “Benjamin is like a cue ball and all the people he collides with leave marks on him. That’s what a life is – a collection of these dents and scratches. They are what make him who he is and not anyone else.” And it is those dents and scratches that make each of us who we are as well. Here is a powerful truth portrayed with brilliance in a powerful film. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Review © David Bruce

Producer Frank Marshall: “It touches on questions we ask ourselves over the course of a lifetime. And it’s rare that one movie will elicit so many different, personal points of view. Someone in their 60s or 70s will look at the movie one way, while someone who’s 20 is going to see it another way” Photo: Brad Pitt and Tilda Swinton The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce

“Benjamin Button knows that you have things for a certain amount of time, and then you have to be okay with letting go. You can take what you can from it while it’s here, but it’s never yours” -- Mahershalalhashbaz Al, co-star The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ©2008 Paramount. Review © David Bruce