Movie!

We saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button tonight. In case you didn't know or don't follow movies, it's the story of a man born as an old man who dies as a baby, aging backwards through his life. Throughout is the love of his life, Daisy, and we hear about Benjamin's life as her daughter reads his diary as Daisy is on her deathbed.

The movie is a brilliant technical achievement; the fact that the viewer can see and recognize Brad Pitt (who plays Benjamin, the title character) as an old baby and as a young old man is amazing. The movie covers about fifty years in detail and does a fantastic job of representing the technologies, clothes, and hairstyles of each era.

I found the movie sort of sad, with its missed connections and moments to remember. None of the characters, except for Benjamin and Daisy, are all that well developed, and in some ways the movie feels a bit rushed - which I didn't think was possible at a running time of 166 minutes! Much of the movie is focused on his childhood, but I think it might have been more interesting had it spent more time in later eras. For example, I'd like to have seen more of the time when Benjamin's physical body aged backwards from 20 to 12, or to a point where he could no longer function in society.

It's an interesting movie and probably worth watching if you like period movies. It can feel a bit slow but it's quite compelling, for the most part. And of course the story is interesting :)