The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

This is truly a film for ages to come. This film echoes aspects which remind me of Big Fish in the sense of living life to it's fullest despite circumstances which may hold people at bay. It's whimsical and touching all in one you don't see very good fantasy's like this a lot, especially ones that adults can enjoy. It strays a good way from the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald but, only natural when it comes to Hollywood. It's almost like it's a whole different story though but, based on the idea of Benjamin Button. It would have been ruined if they'd go the approach they did with A Prayer for Owen Meanie when they made the film Simon Birch (a true shit film). But, it's nice to see how they related the story to actual events in history and not bending the truth around what happened in real life around the story to where it's inaccurate. This film is the good outcome of very hard work.

Our story starts with an elderly woman lying in a hospital bed during her final hours on our plain with her beloved daughter by her side. The old woman recollects a story about a blind watch maker whom lost his son in WWI and made a clock that ran backwards in honor that all the boys lost in the war may return home to reclaim their lost time one day. At the dying woman's request she asks her daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) to read a diary out loud to her that belonged to a man named, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt). The story starts with the birth of Benjamin Button in New Orleans during the end of WWI. His mother dies giving birth and his father is horrified by the deformity that is his son and runs out into the crowded streets and leaves him at a house where A lady named Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) finds him on the steps and becomes his mother. That same night they discover that Benjamin was born into the body of an old 80 year old man and wasn't expected to live very long. Years passed and Benjamin aged younger and strong with every day that goes by. Growing up Benjamin meets many people in his life that bend and curve his life in more ways than one and helps shape him into the man he one day becomes. One Sunday at his home at the retirement home where he was found he meets the love of his life Daisy Fuller (later portrayed as, Kate Blanchett). At age eighteen Benjamin leaves home to join a tug boat that journeys around the world and from there starts his adventure called, life.

It's a breathe of fresh air that this films CGI isn't too unbelievable. They used it where necessary and only to certain limitations. Probably the biggest noticeable flaw in the film that always seems to twinge my nerve is little Daisy age 6. They dub her voice over with a unquestionably noticeable older woman's voice in order to make her sound more Southern/Cajun. The climax of the film is following Benjamin through his rare and odd deformity becoming younger with each year and finally inevitably into a young boy all over again. His mind dwindling back into the mind of a small child as we see elderly people resort to child like behavior. The final thoughts written down in Benjamin's journal are the most penetrating to me him reflecting on all the people that shaped him in his life and their uniqueness about them that helped make him appreciate and love them to their fullest potential. Like the character Ms. Maple in the film said, that he claimed helped shape him the most in the film that give him some of the best advice he'd ever been given, "Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?" That is a very powerful statement that swells and compresses throughout the entire film and is a statement I understand in my own life.

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2001: A Space Odyssey

Celestial, astronomical, so incredibly conceived it tears heaven itself asunder. Quite possibly the most magnificent science fiction film ever made. A Van Gogh in motion. Anyone who's seen it and appreciates it can't say enough good things about it. You could start a whole semester long class dedicated to the understanding, conception, and shear theory behind the story. I find it sad that it can't catch people immediate attention. I admit at first I would fall asleep during the film in my first viewings on account every time I seemed to watch it would be late at night. Now during every viewing it seems to fly by despite it's two and a half hour long stretch. To recognize it's natural beauty you would have to, as with every other film, experience it in the theater. Luckily, my associate and friend Martin informed me that the Fox Theater in Atlanta was showing it. I couldn't have spent my money better. Everything seemed as though it was twice illuminated with life. The film seems so quite on a television screen but, on the big screen I have to admit the silence is very well deafening. My favorite part of seeing it in theater is during the intermission, well, I got to take the intermission experience.

The film start out with immediate confusion. Director Stanley Kubrick begins the film with with a blank screen with classic orchestra playing over the blank screen. My interpretation of this is that it was the idea that in the beginning of the universe there was nothing. Though he skipped the theory of the Big Bang I still believe that's what he was implying but, could totally be wrong. At the dawning of mankind when the world is ruled by apes, one particular clan of apes discovers a mysterious rectangular monolith near their cave, which imparts upon them the knowledge of tool use, and enables them to evolve into men. We flash fowards to 2001 A.D. where reports of a monolithic figure has been discovered on the moon, and is determined to have come from an area near Jupiter. Astronaut David Bowman (Keir Dullea), along with four companions, sets off for Jupiter on a spaceship controlled by a super computer code named, HAL 9000. HAL is a revolutionary computer system that is every bit mankind's equal, and perhaps his superior. When HAL endangers the crew's lives for the sake of the mission, Bowman will have to first overcome the computer, then travel to the birthplace of the monolith where he meets the eternal infinite face to face.

There are limitless one ups to this film the first is the fact that Kubrick got the author of the novel, Arthur C. Clarke, to write the screenplay to the film. Which is good to know that the author was alright with the film, he trusted Kubrick and we can all agree he put his work into good hands. Every frame that whirls by on screen is a piece of art. The stillness on screen is the most accurate depiction of space of it's time. And for 1968 it's still extremely accurate. Kubrick researched with actual NASA scientists working on the moon landing mission in 1969. The camera work and set designs are something to drive a inexperienced filmmaker bonkers on screen. Rotating sets, anti-gravity, stunning images all capturing the glory and mystery of outer space.

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