I'm just getting this out of the way because I want to move on and not talk about this movie much. What a disappointment. Read Roger Ebert's review if you want to know where I'm coming from here; he gives voice to my problems with the film succinctly. It was lovely to look at but had no point at all. An empty thing. Big Fish Part II.I'll admit that my grade is probably harsher than it needs to be because I had lofty expectations that were dashed. Let's just forget this movie exists, eh?
Do me right next time, Fincher! He'll probably get a dozen Oscar nominations for this thing and not learn the lesson he needs to learn. Balls.
PS - One caveat: everything about Tilda Swinton's scenes was lovely.
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Ebert may have given voice to your problems with the movie, but I have some confidence you wouldn't have come up with that "spitting backwards into the maw of time" line. Jesus, Roger, take 'er down a notch.
Anyway, it's funny, going in I was expecting to hate it, and the fact that I didn't surprised me. I have a bunch of problems with it, but none of them were reflected in Ebert's issues. I just felt that, at base, it didn't really tell us anything about the life of a man who ages backwards, beyond the fact that it's super fucking sweet to grow up to look like Brad Pitt in his prime. SUPER fucking sweet.
Benjamin himself doesn't really learn anything or change in any significant way due to his odd circumstances. It could really be any ailment or condition that would ultimately force him to leave Daisy. He might as well BE Forrest Gump.
And yet...I still walked out liking it, for some weird reason. A big part of that is Blanchett, who I thought was wonderful, particularly in her physicality. Tilda's scenes were total highlights, I agree. And for a three-hour movie, it didn't feel like it.
[Shit, if I knew I was gonna write this much, I'd have posted an entry myself. Don't be surprised if this ends up cut and pasted on Low Res.]
I spit backwards into the maw of time all the time. I just did it for my lunch break, actually.
I just took Roger's review as having taken the long (and yes, fruitfully worded) way around to say that the film had no there there. Like you say, it didn't tell us anything about the life of a man that ages backwards - well then why was the movie made if it didn't have anything to say about that core conceit of the entire movie? It got made so Fincher could play with a bunch of tech toys. At least that's how it read to me.
And lord knows I love Miss Blanchett but I just thought she had nothing to work with at all and did nothing with what she had. Same with Brad really (although the early scenes of him playing a little boy in an old man's body were very fun).
I agree that the movie didn't feel long to me, though. It was more a dissatisfaction that came after watching the movie, the more I thought about it. I knew when it was immediately over that it had left me feeling nothing, it just took time to work out what that was all about. And the more I figured it out, the madder I got about it.
Hmmm. As one who is not a big fan of Fincher's (movies always look great, but leave me wanting ... Fight Club being a slight exception) and not a fan of sprawling epic tales, I actually liked this movie quite a bit.
I don't think Benjamin is supposed to learn anything in particular. It is Blanchett's character who is essentially changed by knowing him (similar to how Forrest Gump was not a changing character).
And besides, I'm turning 40 this week and all movies about aging and loss are making me sad and defensive.
LEAVE BENJAMIN ALONE! YOUR LUCKY HE EVEN PERFORMS FOR YOU PEOPLE!
Sidenote: The entire wraparound with dying Blanchett and her daughter and Katrina (WTF?) could be lost to the cutting room floor and it would make a better movie.
It's not that Benjamin didn't learn anything that bothered me, dtownla, it's that the film didn't seem to have anything to teach. It had an interesting idea that went nowhere, and I never felt as if it told me anything new or even the slightest bit substantive. Okay, time is like a flood, the journeys might be different but the destinations are the same... um, okay? That's it? And if it was meant to just be a star-crossed lovers fairy tale then I could have used some emotional heft at some point, instead of vague ciphers criss-crossing through the (admittedly breath-taking) scenery.
I thought it was great but would be disappointed if it got a best picture nomination
it was a little weird to see an old version of Brad Pitt's face pasted onto a kid's body, but i guess that's why they call it a "curious case"
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