I will certainly write more later when I am not so hungry and tired (we saw two flicks tonight - Gran Torino second), but the moment the film ended I knew I at least had to say this:
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button might very well be the best film ever crafted. Visually it is the most stunning work of art of any medium I have ever experienced. The lensing of greats Akira Kurosawa and Stanley Kubrick has finally been out done. This will be the defining moment of Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett and David Fincher's careers. Every single scene might well have been painted on a canvas, with every character a color, so vivid and lifelike.
Few movies ever bring me to tears. Benjamin Button had me constantly facing down a broken heart.
While there may never be a movie more important than Citizen Kane, more artistic than 2001 or more human than Seven Samurai, cinema has finally been blessed with a film that truly defines the artform. As Beethoven's 5th was to piano, Michaelangelo's David was to sculpting and the Beatles' Rubber Soul was to rock and roll, so David Fincher's Benjamin Button is to cinema. Over the course of a century, film has been given a body, a heart and a brain. It has finally been given a soul.
If I never see another film for as long as I live I will die a happy man.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
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klondike
Mr. Arkadin once said: "I think the best critics are those who invest time in the films they review, know the film's subject, and can personally connect it to the world around them."
My interest here lies in his third point (though I will address the first two later,I stand by my statements regarding its artistry and craftsmanship). My grandfather died on the 15th. I delivered his eulogy on the 18th and he was buried with full honors at Arlington (no, not that one, though he qualified to be) the same day. I was given his favorite ring before I moved and I received one of the three casings from his rifle volleys. My grandmother, usually a motormouth and able to make the best of any situation, hardly spoke a word the whole time I was in Texas, and those she did were of her husband. I can hear the difference in her voice every time I talk to her now. Their 56th anniversary would have been the day after Christmas. Please, no condolences, or anything of that sort. I specifically haven't brought this up until now for that very reason.
Why I bring it up now is because Benjamin Button connected so many of the dots for me, or thickened the lines between ones I all ready had. This probably weakens my argument for this movie, but I'm not sure I care. I have no personal investment in Citizen Kane, other than thinking it was, until now, the most well-crafted film ever and that it took a horrific figure down a peg or two, nor do I have anything invested in 2001, aside from believing it to be the very definition of avant-garde. Many of my other favorite/best films have spoken to my own beliefs or have gone to great lengths to open my eyes and heart. Benjamin Button, on the other hand, has spoken to my soul, and helped me to come to terms with everything I've been coping with. I'm no stranger to death, it's life I've been grappling so heavily with. Helping me to understand how a husband and wife who seemed to detest each other, slept in other sides of the house and rarely engaged in conversation, could, in actuality, love each other very deeply, and how only in death could anyone else actually see that.
I doubt anyone else will share my particular view on this film, but it was just what I needed. It connected to my world, and in the over 10,000 films I've seen since junior high (I say this merely as a measure, not bragging; trust me, most of those films were pure crap), I could count on one hand the number that have pulled that off.
My interest here lies in his third point (though I will address the first two later,I stand by my statements regarding its artistry and craftsmanship). My grandfather died on the 15th. I delivered his eulogy on the 18th and he was buried with full honors at Arlington (no, not that one, though he qualified to be) the same day. I was given his favorite ring before I moved and I received one of the three casings from his rifle volleys. My grandmother, usually a motormouth and able to make the best of any situation, hardly spoke a word the whole time I was in Texas, and those she did were of her husband. I can hear the difference in her voice every time I talk to her now. Their 56th anniversary would have been the day after Christmas. Please, no condolences, or anything of that sort. I specifically haven't brought this up until now for that very reason.
Why I bring it up now is because Benjamin Button connected so many of the dots for me, or thickened the lines between ones I all ready had. This probably weakens my argument for this movie, but I'm not sure I care. I have no personal investment in Citizen Kane, other than thinking it was, until now, the most well-crafted film ever and that it took a horrific figure down a peg or two, nor do I have anything invested in 2001, aside from believing it to be the very definition of avant-garde. Many of my other favorite/best films have spoken to my own beliefs or have gone to great lengths to open my eyes and heart. Benjamin Button, on the other hand, has spoken to my soul, and helped me to come to terms with everything I've been coping with. I'm no stranger to death, it's life I've been grappling so heavily with. Helping me to understand how a husband and wife who seemed to detest each other, slept in other sides of the house and rarely engaged in conversation, could, in actuality, love each other very deeply, and how only in death could anyone else actually see that.
I doubt anyone else will share my particular view on this film, but it was just what I needed. It connected to my world, and in the over 10,000 films I've seen since junior high (I say this merely as a measure, not bragging; trust me, most of those films were pure crap), I could count on one hand the number that have pulled that off.