The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button

Genre: Drama / Romance
Watched With: Miss Q @ GV Vivo City (07/02)
Snacks: Green Tea & Strawberry Pocky

*sniffle*

Caroline's (Julia Ormond) mother is on her death bed. And with Hurricane Katrina threatening to sweep everything away, she decided to stay with her mother til the very end.
And it is then that she is told a most wonderful tale.
A tale about a clockmaker Monsieur Gateau (Elias Koteas) who is stricken with grief after his son is killed in the war. And so he makes a creation that helps him to remember his son as best he knows.

World War I has just ended and times are still hard.
Thomas Button (Jason Flemyng) rushes home to find that his newborn son is horribly disfigured and looks more like a wrinkly old man than a newborn baby.
He then decides to get rid of the baby and eventually leaves it on the steps of an old folks' home.
Queenie (Taraji P. Henson) is the orderly and caretaker at this old folks' home and decides to take it upon to care for the baby no matter what the condition.
Everybday said the baby was showing severe sign of old age and would surelt die soon. But he did not.

Benjamin (Brad Pitt) does not die. Instead it seems like he is growing younger and younger with each passing day.
And it is with this sense of gratefulness of life that he decides to live life at its fullest.
Meeting his first love Daisy (Elle Fanning) when she was just 7 and his was... well... technically 70.
So Benjamin goes off into the world. Leaving everything behind.

It is then that he experiences so many wonderful things. And some not so wonderful. And eventually he returns home. And returns to his one true love Daisy (Cate Blanchett) - now all grown up and a ballet dancer.

But as Benjamin grows younger everyday - everything else around him grows old. Just the way they're supposed to.
At first Benjamin is able to understand this. But it gets harder to cope as time goes by. And thus is the problem.

How do you carry on when everything is going the other way?
How do you go against the natural order of things?

This film was based upon a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald of the same name. And even though the premise seems too incredible to believe - I guess it helps to just abandon yourself to the movie and enjoy.

At times the movie may seem a little draggy but a superb performance by Pitt is worth the price of admission.
The best way I can describe this movie - just like Forrest Gump.

Only sadder. Much sadder.

Final Verdict: