Benjamin Button

[Pelican170]

Originally Posted by CYMBOL

I really didn't find his life (minus the agining phenomenon), very interesting.

I thought growing up in a nursing home was interesting - however, as I mentioned, the story could have been told with a child growing up there and it would have been the same (ala My Girl).

As a "teen", he gets drunk and visits a brothel. . . ultimately, I don't care.

He leaves home and gets on a boat. Other than the brush with the enemy boat, I was bored and didn't find his experiences very interesting.

His affair with the married woman was fairly pointless to the whole of the story and very boring. (Not sure how this was supposed to endear me to the character. Ben's a cheat and doing another man's wife. Bad Ben, bad!)

After that, it was mainly his love story. Maybe it was because I just didn't see the "love story" as anything special. Both characters were so boring and mundane. And Cate Blanchette's character just didn't make me like her.

In the end, she cares for him in his old (young) age. Again, this is no different then regular life when a loved one cares for a spouse who has gone down hill.

Is it sad? Yes. It's not that he film was bad in any way (as I've said), I simply was expecting something truly magical in the story, something we don't see every day - in the end, I felt I had watched a very slow tale about an every day life. I never found any interesting wisdom or conclusions he came to that anyone aging normally doesn't already learn.

At the end of the movie, my wife and I basically shrugged.

Either way, Fincher is a fantastic director - looking forward to his next movie.

I agree with you. I felt the same way after it and said, ehhh no reason to watch this one again..

[surfdude12]

while this movie was wonderfully acted, i found the movie itself very hollow of any true purpose or meaning. people say "how an unordinary guy led an ordinary life", well what was unordinary about him? his reverse time life? musn't once fundamentally accept this before one accepts that this "unordinary guy led an ordinary life"

this movie spits in the face of the forward arrow of time. its not unique in this sense, just brazen. the whole point of experiencing life and finding a spouse is to find a common witness to your life. how does button do that when everyone is passing him in reverse direction? he can't. there is no lesson here as nobody will ever relate to button. take for example 80 year old button meeting 5 year old blancett, then 40 year old button making love to 40 year old blanchet...now is 40 year old button thinking of 5 year old blancett? is 40 year old blanchett thinking of 80 year old button? this is why reverse time is not just all wrong and can't be accepted by humans, but is also just plain twisted. even if you and your wife meet at age 5, you're 5 when you meet her. button was 80 when he met 5 year old blanchett...obviously a much more sexually mature man. this was just an example of why the reverse time thing can't ever work with me. hence, the movie couldn't work, couldn't have any central theme.

ironically, i read that the screenplay was based on a comic farce score where button was born an old man at 5'8"...too bad his mom wasn't mentioned in the comic score...can you imagine how much pushing that would have taken????

[SquidPuppet]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

while this movie was wonderfully acted, i found the movie itself very hollow of any true purpose or meaning. people say "how an unordinary guy led an ordinary life", well what was unordinary about him? his reverse time life? musn't once fundamentally accept this before one accepts that this "unordinary guy led an ordinary life"

this movie spits in the face of the forward arrow of time. its not unique in this sense, just brazen. the whole point of experiencing life and finding a spouse is to find a common witness to your life. how does button do that when everyone is passing him in reverse direction? he can't. there is no lesson here as nobody will ever relate to button. take for example 80 year old button meeting 5 year old blancett, then 40 year old button making love to 40 year old blanchet...now is 40 year old button thinking of 5 year old blancett? is 40 year old blanchett thinking of 80 year old button? this is why reverse time is not just all wrong and can't be accepted by humans, but is also just plain twisted. even if you and your wife meet at age 5, you're 5 when you meet her. button was 80 when he met 5 year old blanchett...obviously a much more sexually mature man. this was just an example of why the reverse time thing can't ever work with me. hence, the movie couldn't work, couldn't have any central theme.

ironically, i read that the screenplay was based on a comic farce score where button was born an old man at 5'8"...too bad his mom wasn't mentioned in the comic score...can you imagine how much pushing that would have taken????

For me, that was part of the film I enjoyed. It was about how alone he was, and always will be, because of his aging situation. As he matured and learned more about life, he became more (painfully) aware that he would never have the 'normal' relationships that we hold so dear.

[Sussudio]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

while this movie was wonderfully acted, i found the movie itself very hollow of any true purpose or meaning. people say "how an unordinary guy led an ordinary life", well what was unordinary about him? his reverse time life? musn't once fundamentally accept this before one accepts that this "unordinary guy led an ordinary life"

the fact that he aged backwards from day one is pretty unordinary, wouldn't you say??

this movie spits in the face of the forward arrow of time. its not unique in this sense, just brazen. the whole point of experiencing life and finding a spouse is to find a common witness to your life. how does button do that when everyone is passing him in reverse direction? he can't. there is no lesson here as nobody will ever relate to button. take for example 80 year old button meeting 5 year old blancett, then 40 year old button making love to 40 year old blanchet...now is 40 year old button thinking of 5 year old blancett? is 40 year old blanchett thinking of 80 year old button? this is why reverse time is not just all wrong and can't be accepted by humans, but is also just plain twisted. even if you and your wife meet at age 5, you're 5 when you meet her. button was 80 when he met 5 year old blanchett...obviously a much more sexually mature man. this was just an example of why the reverse time thing can't ever work with me. hence, the movie couldn't work, couldn't have any central theme.

imo you can't take away a message from a movie if you get nothing from it to begin with. you don't think anyone can relate to his character, so how would you yourself be able to relate? it isn't necessarily the character people may relate to, but the themes behind the trials and tribulations he encounters throughout his life....learning what it means to experience love, hate, discrimination, loss etc. the situations you describe are all part of this unique man's fantastical life, made up of some very serious and significant moments. it's obviously not a real story, and imo shouldn't be viewed entirely as such. yes this could have been shown through the eyes of a normal-aging person, but reverse aging is what makes it interesting, because i think it better exemplifies the idea of human mortality. my .02. of course...not everyone will view it in the same light

[SonOfArathorn]

I didn't find it distracting at all that no one around him "seemed to care that he was aging backwards" as the social aspects of his condition were not what the movie was about, we don't know that people didn't find it exceedingly odd, Fincher chooses not to show us those parts of his life.
As for the "spitting in the face of the arrow of time", really? This movie is fiction, somewhat of a fantasy, so who cares if it doesn't play by real world rules. You want real life? We're living in it, movies are a way for us to experience things that are fantastic, things that could never happen and so we can say "what would I have done in that situation?" "what would my life have been like if that was me, would I have made the most of it?" and hopefully at the end we can take things from it and apply to our own lives and hopefully become better people. Yes, action movies and such are meant to entertain our eyes with explosions and dazzling effects but movies like this are meant to make you think, and it certainly has made me think. I do like some of Fincher's other films but this is his best without doubt.
I fail to see anything "brazen" abut the storytelling of the movie. I understand that not everyone likes the same thing but I have a feeling some people have completely missed the point the filmmakers were trying to make. One has to have some emotional maturity to understand the themes, men who are still children probably can't see things that deep. I wouldn't suggest that younger people watch this film as most of the themes are not intended for young people who've not experienced loss, love, tragedy. I hate to always bring up age in regards to love of film but it's a factor, no doubt in my mind. Young people see the world differently than older people, stands to reason they'd like different movies, oh and the research has pretty much proven it so for the young people here (and I know there are tons, too many IMO) don't get all uppity and mad at me for saying the truth.

[adh56]

"Life must be lived forward but can only be understood backwards." -Soren Kierkegaard

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SonOfArathorn

I didn't find it distracting at all that no one around him "seemed to care that he was aging backwards" as the social aspects of his condition were not what the movie was about, we don't know that people didn't find it exceedingly odd, Fincher chooses not to show us those parts of his life.
As for the "spitting in the face of the arrow of time", really? This movie is fiction, somewhat of a fantasy, so who cares if it doesn't play by real world rules. You want real life? We're living in it, movies are a way for us to experience things that are fantastic, things that could never happen and so we can say "what would I have done in that situation?" "what would my life have been like if that was me, would I have made the most of it?" and hopefully at the end we can take things from it and apply to our own lives and hopefully become better people. Yes, action movies and such are meant to entertain our eyes with explosions and dazzling effects but movies like this are meant to make you think, and it certainly has made me think. I do like some of Fincher's other films but this is his best without doubt.
I fail to see anything "brazen" abut the storytelling of the movie. I understand that not everyone likes the same thing but I have a feeling some people have completely missed the point the filmmakers were trying to make. One has to have some emotional maturity to understand the themes, men who are still children probably can't see things that deep. I wouldn't suggest that younger people watch this film as most of the themes are not intended for young people who've not experienced loss, love, tragedy. I hate to always bring up age in regards to love of film but it's a factor, no doubt in my mind. Young people see the world differently than older people, stands to reason they'd like different movies, oh and the research has pretty much proven it so for the young people here (and I know there are tons, too many IMO) don't get all uppity and mad at me for saying the truth.

hmmm interesting....

[1Fish2FishRedFishBlu]

This movie is all about Time and Timing.

From the very begining and the construction of the backwards clock and in the middle where the director went to great lengths not only to narrate but to show how so many events need to be so perfectly timed to aligned and how fate was pre-determined to cause the accident which ended a promising career. Benjamin also states, I think it was in NY, that "The timing was not right."

We have all reflected on events and wondered "what if" we had chosen differently and how the outcome would have changed things. This to me is why we felt for Benjamin. Not only did he have these same feelings and challenges, but because his life was going backwards. He had to endur and struggle more just to find an appropriate moment in time to align and be normal for a much shorter period most get to live for. He truely understood and made the most of his life.

As others have stated this is an average life and uneventful. I disagree and could relate to Benjamin's painful struggle just to live and how difficult he must have been to fit in.

[JUDGEMENT 4400]

Benjamin Button was my favorite movie of 2008. I will never forget seeing it in a crowded theater on Christmas Day. We laughed together. We cried together.

[sfmarine]

It got robbed for Best Picture.

[SonOfArathorn]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

hmmm interesting....

Speaking truth doesn't make me a bad person, as it's clear that is what you're implying. Can't stand the sampled quoting that runs rampant at this place.

It's a fact that younger people think differently than older people, I urge anyone to dispute that.

Also a fact that men in a state of arrested development are essentially still children and as such have a younger sensibility.

Last, I don't think it makes me a bad person to say I'm not a fan of younger people, though I myself was one and was probably as annoying and self interested as the ones I see polluting the forum, and the world in general.

What matters to me, and how I judge myself is how I treat those who matter in my life, my daughter, my family, my friends, my lady and my coworkers. When I die there is not a doubt in my mind that all of them will say "he was a good man" and they won't be killing birds with their noses by saying it. My question to you surfdude, and to all of you in general, is can you say the same? If so then good on you, if not take a look at yourself and realize it's never too late to change.

Not often that a film affects me the way this one did, 5 days later and I'm still going through it in my head. Amazing achievement.

[Canuck21]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

It got robbed for Best Picture.

Not at all. I can understand that you prefer Button, but not everyone liked it as much as you. I thought that it was a very well made movie, but at the end, I felt like I've seen this movie before. I also think it's a bit over-melodramatic. Personally, I prefer Slumdog.

[Suntory_Times]

Originally Posted by sfmarine

It got robbed for Best Picture.

Agreed, but I didn't think any of the other nominees where anything all that special. They where all descent to good films, but not great. That being said, I don't really respect the oscars as in my view its nearly always politically based. It also amazes me that Cate Blanchet did not get an oscar nomination.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SonOfArathorn

Speaking truth doesn't make me a bad person, as it's clear that is what you're implying. Can't stand the sampled quoting that runs rampant at this place.

It's a fact that younger people think differently than older people, I urge anyone to dispute that.

Also a fact that men in a state of arrested development are essentially still children and as such have a younger sensibility.

Last, I don't think it makes me a bad person to say I'm not a fan of younger people, though I myself was one and was probably as annoying and self interested as the ones I see polluting the forum, and the world in general.

What matters to me, and how I judge myself is how I treat those who matter in my life, my daughter, my family, my friends, my lady and my coworkers. When I die there is not a doubt in my mind that all of them will say "he was a good man" and they won't be killing birds with their noses by saying it. My question to you surfdude, and to all of you in general, is can you say the same? If so then good on you, if not take a look at yourself and realize it's never too late to change.

Not often that a film affects me the way this one did, 5 days later and I'm still going through it in my head. Amazing achievement.

wow, i said nothing. i never said you were a bad person, and didn't imply it. that may have come from somewhere else...

[Riff Magnum]

Originally Posted by SonOfArathorn

Speaking truth doesn't make me a bad person, as it's clear that is what you're implying. Can't stand the sampled quoting that runs rampant at this place.

It's a fact that younger people think differently than older people, I urge anyone to dispute that.

Also a fact that men in a state of arrested development are essentially still children and as such have a younger sensibility.

Last, I don't think it makes me a bad person to say I'm not a fan of younger people, though I myself was one and was probably as annoying and self interested as the ones I see polluting the forum, and the world in general.

What matters to me, and how I judge myself is how I treat those who matter in my life, my daughter, my family, my friends, my lady and my coworkers. When I die there is not a doubt in my mind that all of them will say "he was a good man" and they won't be killing birds with their noses by saying it. My question to you surfdude, and to all of you in general, is can you say the same? If so then good on you, if not take a look at yourself and realize it's never too late to change.

Not often that a film affects me the way this one did, 5 days later and I'm still going through it in my head. Amazing achievement.

LOL!! Sorry, but i think a truer test of character is how a person treats people who don't necessarily "matter" in their day to day lives. Like say, complete strangers on an internet forum.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by SonOfArathorn

Speaking truth doesn't make me a bad person, as it's clear that is what you're implying. Can't stand the sampled quoting that runs rampant at this place.

It's a fact that younger people think differently than older people, I urge anyone to dispute that.

Also a fact that men in a state of arrested development are essentially still children and as such have a younger sensibility.

Last, I don't think it makes me a bad person to say I'm not a fan of younger people, though I myself was one and was probably as annoying and self interested as the ones I see polluting the forum, and the world in general.

What matters to me, and how I judge myself is how I treat those who matter in my life, my daughter, my family, my friends, my lady and my coworkers. When I die there is not a doubt in my mind that all of them will say "he was a good man" and they won't be killing birds with their noses by saying it. My question to you surfdude, and to all of you in general, is can you say the same? If so then good on you, if not take a look at yourself and realize it's never too late to change.

Not often that a film affects me the way this one did, 5 days later and I'm still going through it in my head. Amazing achievement.

sorry, missed your question in my first post. i don't even think about that question, it makes no difference what people think of me. it only matters what i think of myself. why? because if i think good of myself, i can only do good to others. if i think bad of myself, i can only do bad to others. just is my sincere belief, you are welcome to disagree.

i would disagree with your statement bolded above: IMO, how one sees himelf determines how he sees EVERYONE, not just a select few. if he wakes up feeling bad about himself, he'll lash out at someone, it may be a spouse, a child, or some generic social age group. if he wakes up feeling great about himself, he won't lash out at anyone.