More Weigh in on 'Benjamin Button' and a Listen to Desplat's Score
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Photo: Paramount Pictures
Before I get started with the reviews, it has been pointed out by Slashfilm that the Warner Bros. "For Your Consideration" BAFTA website has the
On Saturday I brought you the first two opinions on Ben Button, but since then six new opinions have been added to the fray. Not all are glowing, and one admits to have "actively loathed it". I have included some of the more telling pieces from each review without digging into plot whatsoever for those (like myself) not interested in knowing story details, but opinions are always welcomed. This is to say, I skimmed these reviews and avoided anything that looked like it was going to tell me the story.
So here are the opinions so far:
Kris Tapley (In Contention):
Perhaps it's my youthful cynicism, who knows, but I thought Fincher brought an arm's length approach to the emotions in the film and I wanted Roth's reaction to that. [...]
I don't want to dig too much into my own feelings on the film yet, which are quite complicated at the moment. I didn't fall in love like so many in the crowd did. However, I couldn't help but sense the innovation on display, not just below the line, but in the way we tell stories. This is a brilliant yarn, probably Roth's finest screenplay to date, in a career that has seen some fine work.
Kirk Honeycutt (The Hollywood Reporter):
Fincher 's direction is sure handed over the entire 166 minutes, which never feels long or pretentious. The film takes Donald Graham Burt's brilliant period design in stride, never overemphasizing it nor lingering on an artifact. Claudio Miranda's cinematography wonderfully marries a palette of subdued earthern colors with the necessary CGI and other visual effects that place one in a magical past.
Mike Goodridge (Screen Daily):
The curious thing about Benjamin Button is the questionable profundity of this lengthy saga. Is it a meaningful parable about love and time or is it just a gigantic shaggy dog story? With that in mind, you can't help but look at your watch occasionally and wonder whether some plot meanderings, while always pleasant, have any bearing on the story whatsoever.
Karina Longworth (Spout):
To borrow a line from Lou Lumenick: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is this year's Forrest Gump. This is not really arguable. In addition to sharing a screenwriter (Eric Roth), Robert Zemeckis' 1994 Best Picture winner and David Fincher's 2008 Best Picture front-runner (at least, as of this writing) both put groundbreaking special effects to the service of sprawling stories, spanning many decades and weaving a breadcrumb trail through modern American history, in which a man holds a torch for a woman who can't reciprocate his love until her dreams of autonomy are spectacularly dashed. For me, the Gump comparison is a pejorative, a shorthand way to say, "This film will likely make a lot of money and win a lot of awards, and yet is so phony and cloying and gimmicky that its success will some day be seen by some as a tragedy." But to others, the second coming of Gump would be a blessing. An Oscars-bait blockbuster? As Lumenick put it, apparently before seeing the film, "Paramount would be thrilled, and possibly the Academy would be as well."
Steven Zeitchik (The Hollywood Reporter's Risky Biz Blog):
The comparison most likely to make the rounds is Forrest Gump, and there's something to it — a kind of blank-slate main character who things seem to happen to; a life-changing experience in a war he didn't intend to be in; persistently raised questions about fate and destiny; a lifelong love who's as much an idealized version of beauty as she is the real thing; and a strong single mother (complete with her own aphorism about life's unexpectedness to rival any box of chocolates line).
The comparison that also could be made is to another great work of art this season, the aforementioned Charlie K and his Synecdoche, NY. In each, we're watching a man with a tragic air hovering above him move through his life and loves, ultimately knowing that in both cases, the man is doomed.
Anne Thompson (Variety):
Still, the movie is sadly beautiful, of a piece, as impeccably wrought as its ornate clock that runs counterclockwise. Do Paramount and Warner Bros. have a prayer of making their money back? This movie needs all the help it can get, from anyone who loves movies and wants the studios to take more risky bets like this one.
Todd McCarthy (Variety):
Still, for what is designed as a rich tapestry, the picture maintains a slightly remote feel. No matter the power of the image of an old but young-looking Benjamin, slumped over a piano and depressed about his fading memory and life; it is possible that the picture might have been warmer and more emotionally accessible had it been shot on film. It has been argued that digital is a cold medium and celluloid a hot one and a case, however speculative, could be made that a story such as "Benjamin Button," with its desired cumulative emotional impact, should be shot and screened on film to be fully realized. These are intangibles, but nor are they imaginary factors; what technology gives, it can also take away.
Sasha Stone (Awards Daily):
Combine Roth's emotional output with David Fincher's exactitude and you have something nearly perfect. With so many limbs, emotions and ideas the film shouldn't work at all, but somehow it does. Much credit is due to Brad Pitt, whose Benjamin Button is a soul-shattering creation. Cate Blanchett, who bursts forth like her own hurricane. Taraji P. Henson as Queenie is the heart of the film.
For more on the film including a few snapshots click here. I have once again included the international trailer below for those that missed it.
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