Der seltsame Fall des Benjamin Button (2008)

Der seltsame Fall des Benjamin Button: Directed by David Fincher. With Cate Blanchett, Brad Pitt, Julia Ormond, Faune Chambers Watkins. Tells the story of Benjamin Button, a man who starts aging backwards with consequences.

“I found this to be an interesting film; certainly not boring as I had heard from a few people who saw it in the theater. To me, it was simply good storytelling.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eYes, itu0026#39;s slow, especially by todayu0026#39;s movie standards, but itu0026#39;s certainly a unique story and itu0026#39;s nicely filmed, acted and directed. Story-wise, itu0026#39;s one of those films I understand if people love it or hate it. Iu0026#39;m somewhat in the middle and leaning toward the positive.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor a movie that runs for over 2 hours and 40 minutes and is not some suspense or action film, it has to be pretty good to hold oneu0026#39;s interest. I can only speak for myself; it held my interest for 95 percent of it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI think the first two-thirds of the movie is the best. Brad Pitt as u0026quot;Benjamin Buttonu0026quot; is pretty fascinating, as is the story of him growing up from a wrinkled, old man-baby to a mid-40s guy. When he re-unites with childhood friend u0026quot;Daisyu0026quot; (Cate Blanchett) and becomes her lover, the film bogs down in a few spots but few people are going to stop watching after investing two hours. It picks up again, especially in the last minutes when u0026quot;Benjaminu0026quot; begins to finally become younger than an adult.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s a sadness to this story, especially near the end but overall, even though itu0026#39;s central theme seems to be u0026quot;death,u0026quot; I donu0026#39;t think itu0026#39;s a depressing film. It does remind us, in a big way, that the longer weu0026#39;re around, the more death of friends and loved ones we witness. Thatu0026#39;s just a sad fact of life. I hear about it all time with my father, who is 91 years old and has seen almost all of his friends die.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s especially true in this story when Benjamin starts off and has a lot of old friends to begin with! u0026quot;Benjaminu0026quot; was an odd person to me; you could root for him, yet not admire him. He often treated people only to satisfy his desires and could have been so much more. Yet, being u0026quot;a fly on the wallu0026quot; and observing his interesting life, was memorable, making this a film worthy of the time invested to watch it.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn the end, the movie made me appreciate the friends I do have, and not to take any of them for granted as life passes us by so fast, no matter what direction weu0026#39;re headed!”