Stars:
Jason Flemyng,
Cate Blanchett,
Elias Koteas,
Brad Pitt,
Tilda Swinton,
Julia Ormond,
Taraji P. Henson,
Elle Fanning,
Faune A. Chambers,
Josh Stewart,
Mahershalalhashbaz Ali,
Spencer Daniels,
Chandler Canterbury,
David Jensen,
Ted Manson,
Patrick Holland,
Peter D. Badalamenti II,
Madisen Beaty
Director:
David Fincher
Summary: Following on from SEVEN and FIGHT CLUB, director David Fincher and Brad Pitt team up for a third time with this adaptation of a F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. Pitt plays a man who is born 80 years old, but instead of aging, he grows young. Oscar winner Cate Blanchett co-stars, along with Taraji P. Henson and Tilda Swinton.
At once epic in scope and intimate in detail, David Fincher's THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is certainly the director's most emotional film to date (though FIGHT CLUB and SEVEN don't offer much in the way of competition). Loosely based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald story, this romantic drama tells the tale of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), born in 1918 in New Orleans as a baby with wrinkles, cataracts, and arthritis. Benjamin will age backwards, getting younger as he watches those around him growing older. Included in that group are his adoptive mother, Queenie (Taraji P. Henson), and Daisy (Cate Blanchett), the love of his life whom he meets when she is just a little girl and he is an old man. They age in reverse, but despite Benjamin's globe-trotting adventures, their lives repeatedly intersect.
The script from Oscar winner Eric Roth bears more than a few hallmarks in common with his earlier work on FORREST GUMP: both adaptations cross decades and continents. But BENJAMIN's script or even the fine acting aren't its most impressive accomplishment; the technology--both CGI and makeup--used to make Benjamin and Daisy age are remarkable, and makes the film entirely believable, but they're certainly aided by fine performances from both Pitt and Blanchett. The triumph of technology only serves to underscore the beauty of this film and of the love story at its heart.