Sunday, February 15, 2009
Movie Reviewer, c'est moi
At the request of a gentle reader, herewith is a review of a movie I wrote but haven't put here. Hey, it's my blog and I can do what I want here.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tonight’s movie was a sleeper of a surprise. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a movie that, like “The Legend of 1900,” takes an impossible premise and gets you to buy into the concept. This movie gets you to believe that a baby is born as an old man, then gets younger and younger, eventually dying of old age as a newborn.
Along the way, you get compelling but not cloying doses of romantic philosophy about life. I’m going to have to watch this again but the protagonist does quite well with accepting what he is- a biological freak. The movie has some interesting dialogue, reminiscent of the effect Beatles lyrics had on this immature, maturing writer, talking about what is, what isn’t and what you gotta accept. Do you remember “All you need is love” and “Let it be?” Let those lyrics and times percolate through your psyche again. Now you’ll comprehend the great scene where he discovers who his biological father is and, after some understandable anger, does the human thing and takes his dying father to where his father liked to be as a young boy- watching the dawn over Lake Ponchetrain.
There were some fantastic aural images- on a former tugboat recently commissioned as a US Navy vessel, they come across a series of destroyed vessels. As images of dead sailors’ arms float across the screen, he says how silent the world is; he’s a remarkable diarist. Later, as one of a series of pivotal events transpires, a hummingbird flies outside a window; he notes how he’s never seen a hummingbird that far from land. And at the end of the movie, as the love of his life (Cate Blanchett in old-age makeup doing a really terrific job as an old woman) holds him as a newborn, dying, letting go of what he can’t control, you see a humming bird outside the window again.
There’s a couple of touching scenes where the two lovers, separated by events they can’t control (she’s very young, overly vibrant as a New York dancer and he’s studious, introspective) yet they each love the other, You see Daisy saying a phrase “Good night, Benjamin” as she is in bed with some generic good-looking guy while Benjamin says the corresponding “Good night, Daisy,” as he is in bed without her.
And you can’t overlook the existential analysis of how she got injured- a series of unrelated minor events came together to ruin her dancing- she got hit by a French taxi- and she’s subsequently curt with him, yet he doesn’t abandon her. He’s got a good heart. She reciprocates by being a wonderfully loving middle-aged woman and a very tender old woman with him as a young boy. The aging hippie in me revels in the non-traditional love these two have- when she’s too young, he’s patient; when he’s too young, she’s reciprocally patient. But when they’re about right for each other, they’re crazy, happy in love. The central part of the movie is not as sappy as Titanic, yet convinces you that a one-of-a-kind love can happen. How romantic! And how Romantic, too!
The closing scenes are little vignettes that distill each character- some people are mothers (Queenie, the loving black woman who found him as an infant), some are dancers (Daisy with some very attractive and feminine dancing), some are artists (the drunken tugboat captain who is a frustrated artist, yet manages to be a real person). And the screenwriters didn’t ignore all the “little people” in the script, each member of the tugboat getting some background and seeming very real.
That canard about “no small parts, only small actors” is blaring in my consciousness- everyone on screen is real, human and perfect in their roles. I liked the black midget who takes a too-young Benjamin out to see the world and leaves him to find his own way home. The crew of the tug are real. Even Daisy’s subsequent husband is a genuine person, though his character has only a few lines. The child Daisy is a cutie with élan and sophistication. The French nurse caring for Daisy in the hospital is very much a nurse and very French. Their 12-year-old daughter is real, with adolescent behavior and speech.
The director and screenwriter throw away gems of moviedom- In Russia before the war, he meets and has an affair with a classy British woman. She’s already had her big moment in her life, having nearly swum the English Channel as a teen. Now, in her middle years, she seems a failure, only snatching something from an affair with Benjamin. Later, as Benjamin is in a diner with Daisy, he turns to leave and glances at the diner’s old black-and-white television. He sees an older version of this woman who didn’t quit, trying again as a middle-aged competitor- she swam the channel, taking more than two hours longer than her previous attempt. The unspoken message here, reflected in Benjamin’s fleeting and satisfied smile, is that we don’t end our lives after we’re no longer teen-agers. “Keep trying, keep looking and accept what is” is the message of this vignette and of the whole damned movie. It’s wonderful! But if you blink, you’ll miss this moment.
Make-up and special effects are outstanding in this effort. I’m still scratching my head at how they filmed a four-foot-six Brad Pitt with much taller adults. Sure, you give him a bald wig and some wrinkles and he can be seven years old again. But all in all, the make-up was convincing. I guess it was a CG baby because Benjamin as a newborn was impossibly ugly. But Cate Blanchett’s dying-woman makeup was great! I don’t know if they used a body double, but the past-her-prime Daisy goes to see and make love to Benjamin one more time; afterward, as she’s getting dressed, her body really looks 50-something- still attractive but saggy here and there. Or maybe it was Cate, moving like she’s old, as she climbs into her clothes: just one more memorable one-second scene.
Someone took a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and did a really good job with the movie. I hope this gets some Oscars. Lots of realistic scenes from the interwar era, the 50’s and 60’s. The scene where the lovers go sailing in Florida waters with a space launch as background is great; even better that no one was overly didactic by pointing out the historical events, they were just there. He rides a 30’s era motorcycle and each succeeding era has him on a different motorcycle, the last one a very nicely-restored 60’s Triumph. However, the movie isn’t just a collection of good props, it’s a cohesive process that makes you say, “Yeah! What a movie!”
This movie succeeds in convincing me Benjamin lived his physical life in reverse, though he learned a lot about being old as a child. And Daisy learned a lot about being young as she got older. And a few comments about aging and life are positive. All in all, this is a movie that’ll go back to my personal future, maybe watching this again in the next segment of my life.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Tonight’s movie was a sleeper of a surprise. Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” a movie that, like “The Legend of 1900,” takes an impossible premise and gets you to buy into the concept. This movie gets you to believe that a baby is born as an old man, then gets younger and younger, eventually dying of old age as a newborn.
Along the way, you get compelling but not cloying doses of romantic philosophy about life. I’m going to have to watch this again but the protagonist does quite well with accepting what he is- a biological freak. The movie has some interesting dialogue, reminiscent of the effect Beatles lyrics had on this immature, maturing writer, talking about what is, what isn’t and what you gotta accept. Do you remember “All you need is love” and “Let it be?” Let those lyrics and times percolate through your psyche again. Now you’ll comprehend the great scene where he discovers who his biological father is and, after some understandable anger, does the human thing and takes his dying father to where his father liked to be as a young boy- watching the dawn over Lake Ponchetrain.
There were some fantastic aural images- on a former tugboat recently commissioned as a US Navy vessel, they come across a series of destroyed vessels. As images of dead sailors’ arms float across the screen, he says how silent the world is; he’s a remarkable diarist. Later, as one of a series of pivotal events transpires, a hummingbird flies outside a window; he notes how he’s never seen a hummingbird that far from land. And at the end of the movie, as the love of his life (Cate Blanchett in old-age makeup doing a really terrific job as an old woman) holds him as a newborn, dying, letting go of what he can’t control, you see a humming bird outside the window again.
There’s a couple of touching scenes where the two lovers, separated by events they can’t control (she’s very young, overly vibrant as a New York dancer and he’s studious, introspective) yet they each love the other, You see Daisy saying a phrase “Good night, Benjamin” as she is in bed with some generic good-looking guy while Benjamin says the corresponding “Good night, Daisy,” as he is in bed without her.
And you can’t overlook the existential analysis of how she got injured- a series of unrelated minor events came together to ruin her dancing- she got hit by a French taxi- and she’s subsequently curt with him, yet he doesn’t abandon her. He’s got a good heart. She reciprocates by being a wonderfully loving middle-aged woman and a very tender old woman with him as a young boy. The aging hippie in me revels in the non-traditional love these two have- when she’s too young, he’s patient; when he’s too young, she’s reciprocally patient. But when they’re about right for each other, they’re crazy, happy in love. The central part of the movie is not as sappy as Titanic, yet convinces you that a one-of-a-kind love can happen. How romantic! And how Romantic, too!
The closing scenes are little vignettes that distill each character- some people are mothers (Queenie, the loving black woman who found him as an infant), some are dancers (Daisy with some very attractive and feminine dancing), some are artists (the drunken tugboat captain who is a frustrated artist, yet manages to be a real person). And the screenwriters didn’t ignore all the “little people” in the script, each member of the tugboat getting some background and seeming very real.
That canard about “no small parts, only small actors” is blaring in my consciousness- everyone on screen is real, human and perfect in their roles. I liked the black midget who takes a too-young Benjamin out to see the world and leaves him to find his own way home. The crew of the tug are real. Even Daisy’s subsequent husband is a genuine person, though his character has only a few lines. The child Daisy is a cutie with élan and sophistication. The French nurse caring for Daisy in the hospital is very much a nurse and very French. Their 12-year-old daughter is real, with adolescent behavior and speech.
The director and screenwriter throw away gems of moviedom- In Russia before the war, he meets and has an affair with a classy British woman. She’s already had her big moment in her life, having nearly swum the English Channel as a teen. Now, in her middle years, she seems a failure, only snatching something from an affair with Benjamin. Later, as Benjamin is in a diner with Daisy, he turns to leave and glances at the diner’s old black-and-white television. He sees an older version of this woman who didn’t quit, trying again as a middle-aged competitor- she swam the channel, taking more than two hours longer than her previous attempt. The unspoken message here, reflected in Benjamin’s fleeting and satisfied smile, is that we don’t end our lives after we’re no longer teen-agers. “Keep trying, keep looking and accept what is” is the message of this vignette and of the whole damned movie. It’s wonderful! But if you blink, you’ll miss this moment.
Make-up and special effects are outstanding in this effort. I’m still scratching my head at how they filmed a four-foot-six Brad Pitt with much taller adults. Sure, you give him a bald wig and some wrinkles and he can be seven years old again. But all in all, the make-up was convincing. I guess it was a CG baby because Benjamin as a newborn was impossibly ugly. But Cate Blanchett’s dying-woman makeup was great! I don’t know if they used a body double, but the past-her-prime Daisy goes to see and make love to Benjamin one more time; afterward, as she’s getting dressed, her body really looks 50-something- still attractive but saggy here and there. Or maybe it was Cate, moving like she’s old, as she climbs into her clothes: just one more memorable one-second scene.
Someone took a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and did a really good job with the movie. I hope this gets some Oscars. Lots of realistic scenes from the interwar era, the 50’s and 60’s. The scene where the lovers go sailing in Florida waters with a space launch as background is great; even better that no one was overly didactic by pointing out the historical events, they were just there. He rides a 30’s era motorcycle and each succeeding era has him on a different motorcycle, the last one a very nicely-restored 60’s Triumph. However, the movie isn’t just a collection of good props, it’s a cohesive process that makes you say, “Yeah! What a movie!”
This movie succeeds in convincing me Benjamin lived his physical life in reverse, though he learned a lot about being old as a child. And Daisy learned a lot about being young as she got older. And a few comments about aging and life are positive. All in all, this is a movie that’ll go back to my personal future, maybe watching this again in the next segment of my life.
# posted by rich @ 3:51 AM 
