The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a film I’ve been looking forward to all year. Coming off of the crackerjack Zodiac, putting David Fincher at the helm of a romantic fable seemed like an interesting idea to say the least as I always look forward to his films, but was even more looking forward to a detour in his crime/suspense oeuvre.  What probably struck me the most about the film was how traditional it was, considering its oddball premise.  It is meticulous, deliberate (of course, it’s Fincher!) but it is also classical, romantic and melancholic. Fincher took the central conceit and really gave us a very straightforwardly backward love story above all. That it falls short of being great is due to its somewhat lack of dramatic propulsion.

This is the story of Benjamin Button, born old and growing younger by the day. The first hour is really special, mixing humor and amazing technology while introducing all the major characters and settings. As odd and intriguing as Benjamin is, we are often as entertained by those around him.  We meet his father who abandoned him and his adopted caretaker Queenie and her lover Tizzy, and all the characters in the home, as well as the young Daisy who comes to visit her Grandmother to whom he strikes up a friendship and a then a love affair with. In the beginning, there is much humor sprinkled throughout from the resident whose been struck by lightning seven times to the oddball yodaesque voice of Benjamin as a “young” man. I love how the film never explains his condition and nobody around him tries to reveal the mystery of discovering why Benjamin is who he is. He just is growing young by the day, a typical oddball. After some funny scenes of becoming a man, Benjamin works on a tugboat and then settles into a hotel in Russia on assignment. This is when he meets Elizabeth Abbott (Tilda Swinton) and he starts to have his first love affair.  The film hits notes of poignancy when the affair ends, but Benjamin never dramatically reacts to anything, he’s just more of an observer.

The film is framed in a not wholly original fashion by having the lost diary of a dying woman be the narrative thread.  Although I’d be hard pressed to find a better way to tell it, the episodic nature of the movie propels it but at the same time makes it feel like a highlight reel. For instance, the middle half when Benjamin is out to sea is entertaining enough but we never get a sense of what he really WANTS, as he is discovering the world, much like the audience.  There is a certain lack of urgency to this as Benjamin seems always so resigned to what’s happening around him. There is never any true breakdown or dramatic discovery (even when he finds out who his real father is). The last half of the movie deals with his relationship with Daisy and for me, it was the most poignant as it is a love story that will never fully bloom due to the nature of Benjamin’s condition. They have a real love affair when they “meet in the middle” and their ages are close to each other.  But how can a love last when the lovers are literally growing apart? Benjamin knows this and again, has sacrificed and resigned himself to a life of solitude and discovery, never truly getting close to anyone for the fear that it won’t last. It’s the ultimate price he has to pay for who he is, always being out of step with everyone around him.   The last few scenes with baby Benjamin being taken care of by an older daisy is really moving and amazing. She actually reads baby Benjamin the same story book that her Grandmother read her and Benjamin when they were young.

I’ve always liked Brad Pitt as he really is a character actor trapped in a leading man’s body. I just saw Burn After Reading and he was probably the best thing in it, in a pretty minor part. In this one, his strength lies in his stillness. Fincher uses his laid back persona to great effect and his softness (some call aloofness) works really well. He reminded me of a lot of Robert Redford who always conveyed a lot with minimal expression.  Cate Blanchett is as usual beautiful and amazing as are all the supporting character actors and kudos for Fincher for casting out of the box like Jason Flemyng as his father.

To span from birth to death, telling the story from any perspective, is a monumental task.  Everyone is comparing this to Forrest Gump (same screenwriter) in its epic and episodic narrative, starring an outsider/innocent. While the thrust is the same, this one feels much more slow-moving and mysterious where Forrest Gump is a more sentimental and broad piece of pop entertainment that really focused on humor of the innocent swept up by America and its people. This is a more muted film but in a way a worthy companion piece.

Ram-Jam!!

I just got back from opening night of The Wrestler starring Mickey Rourke and Marisa Tomei both of whom let it all hang out physically and emotionally in this slice-of-life drama. There are movies to be admired from a distance for their technical artistry (most Kubrick) and often revisit like a good book, and there are movies that you live and breathe the lives of the characters from the get-go. The Wrestler is one of those.  Unfortunately most of these kinds of movies seem to be very realistic and depressing dramas (aka 21 grams, leaving Las Vegas) that I don’t care to see more than once in a decade, if that. Though the Wrestler is one of those, it has enough nostalgia and humanity in it to make up for its down and out and gritty realism. It also opened up a new world which for me at least, is what a great documentary can do. I was not a wrestling fan (although I always enjoyed Rowdy Roddy Piper for some reason – maybe it was the kilt or the “I’m here to chew gum and kick ass, and I’m all outta gum” line from the otherwise mediocre THEY LIVE). In any case, the movie is a window into the life of one of wrestling’s fallen idols and his day-to-day survival. It was so great to see Mickey Rourke as a leading actor and not a second banana bad guy (Domino) or some whacked out scene stealing character actor (The Pledge or Animal Factory).  He made so many great films as a young guy and he really was in the Marlon Brando, James Dean league but we all know that he “fucked it up, boys” (see below).  Man, he looks pretty terrible. He is a true Leatherface. He’s had so much work on him that he’s almost turned himself into Jonny Handsome. However for this role, he looks perfect. Flowing, dyed blonde hair, a tan to cover his skin (now hide), tiny eye slits, swollen mouth, scarred face, you name it. Randy “The Ram” Robinson (don’t call me Robin) has lost everything and needs to be loved at this point in his life. He freely admits that he deserves to be alone but after a heart-attack,  he’s feeling the need to connect now more than ever to people around him, to bring people in to him. Although the script deals with some clichés of the stripper who needs to be saved and the estranged daughter who needs to be loved and to love, the script never explains too much back-story or veers into sentimentality.  The Ram is a good man who is down on his luck but is played with such softness that when he does lash out in the real world, it is very, very affective. He lives for the ring and often plays these town-hall type conventions that draw a very small but loyal crowd of wrestling fanatics. He is one of the “good” wrestlers who always fights the bad guy (the hilarious Ayatollah) and the not so hilarious and sickening Necro Butcher.  What’s great about this film is the way that these old and new wrestlers really bond when they’re not in the ring. The backstage camaraderie is as important to The Ram as the onstage glory and is what makes this film so interesting for me.  Like most great naturalistic actors, Rourke’s personality (his machismo mixed with his sensitivity permeate most of his roles) truly makes the character and situation work. And because of Rourkes checkered past, it’s one of those performances that’s hard to separate character from actor. It must be said that Marisa Tomei is fearless in creating an aging stripper who is trying to better herself any way she can (which most often involves sexual and non-emotional contact). Their relationship feels very genuine if slightly underdeveloped (with some of the scenes near the end feeling a little out of character). Aronofsky tells the story very straight but to great effect. The handheld camera, seemingly looming right behind Roarke or directly on his battered face, is so great in creating an in-the-moment feel.  And it never feels like shaky-cam show off material. It’s not flashily directed with jump cuts or anything, just very immediate.  There is an amazing scene at a supermarket where the camera follows Rourke around without giving it away, uses music and camera techniques to create a really funny and poignant moment. I doubt that was written in the script and it shows how a great director can add his own magic touch. And like Requiem for a Dream, Aronofsky pushes his actors to the limits and it really pays off.  There are many images and scenes that remain with me from the film (the deli, the boardwalk) but none more penetrating than the last shot. Aronofsky ends the film with the perfect and poignant final shot and then kicks into blackness and then a Springsteen song. When the scene was playing I said to myself “please stop the film here, don’t do anymore” and I was really thankful that he stuck with his guns and left things open-ended.  I think The Ram will live on for quite a while….

**In 2000 or 2001 my friend Dan and I ran into Mickey Rourke at Pink Dot on Sunset very late at night after a concert at the House of Blues. Mickey was with a lady…of the night, and he was carrying both his pugs that he considers, according to all his interviews, his closest family.  We were both huge fans and we knew we had to say something to Mickey so we went up and told him how much we admired his films to which he smiled and simply said “Thanks, but I fucked it up boys, I fucked it up.” It came across as both a warning and a sad reflection. We were stunned.  He was extremely nice and asked us about NY State where we went to school and where he was raised.  I still think to this day that that was by far the most interesting and profound celebrity encounter that I’ve had in LA in almost ten years of living here.

Hello All

It seems to me that blogs are like skid-marks. Something happens, and everyone leaves their stamp on the road of opinions.  Everybody leaves a trace, usually in varying shapes . It’s becoming unavoidable, so I’ve jumped into marking my way through the internet highway to leave a few skids of my own, opining on media that excites me – movies,music, television.

Enjoy and feel free to leave some skids of your own!