David Fincher is another of my favorite directors and after his amazing Zodiac in 2007, I was surprised to see that he had another movie coming out only 1 year later.
This movie marks a definite departure for Fincher in terms of content. This story is a very mainstream and “nice” movie, that appeals to a very wide audience. It’s not a serial killer story, or a thriller with a twist at the end. This is a straight forward touching story with a little supernatural premise.
Brad Pitt plays a man who ages backwards. I like that apart from this ridiculous premise, everything else is done as realistically as possible. He is born the size of a baby, but he has the skin, health and everything else of an old man. So as he grows in age, he grows in size from a bold old man to a middle aged man, a young men, a teenager and a baby again.
This premise makes Benjamin’s life more interesting than a normal human being. He’s very lucky in being found by Queenie who treated him like a normal baby. It also fits that he was raised in a nursing home, where he would blend with the other patients. I admit it’s a little too convenient, but it works for me.
His fascination with Daisy starts early, but he looks like an old man instead of a young kid. Nonetheless they become good friends. The adventures he has while away were interesting, but I admit they didn’t feel as important to the story.
The first emotional peak is when Caroline (Julia Ormond) finds out who Benjamin really is. From then on it was an emotional roller coaster. Benjamin’s dilemma of raising a child was a very touching issue for me, that basically made the movie for me. The last few years of his life were also very touching even though I should have predicted it.
Emotionally this movie obviously worked for me. But technically it was another great work by Fincher. I thought the visual effects of the old Benjamin were done seamlessly. The body of an old man with the face of Brad Pitt really looked perfectly natural. That’s the perfect visual effect, invisible to the eye.
I am really glad that David Fincher finally got the recognition he deserves, even if he had to make a “nice” movie. I certainly enjoyed this movie a lot, it’s one of my favorite of the year, though I still prefer Zodiac.
Rating: 4.5 Stars