The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Running Time: 2 Hours 46 Minutes,
Distributor: Warner BROS. Pictures
Cast: Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson, Tilda Swinton, Jason Flemyng, Elias Koteas
Director: David Fincher
From the author: F. Scott Fitzgerald

i read the short story of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which was recommended by shinLoo before i watch the movie. Yes, i am the kind of person who likes to read before watching a movie (well, except for Lord of The Rings- cause i find that a little too sedative for me.. with the super ancient and mystic vocabulary)... i liked painting the picture with the mind.. nothing beats the imagination, i suppose..

I had several feedback of this movie... not very inviting ones though.. most people claimed that this movie was so boring that it put them to sleep!! (well, peanut said he slept through the movie, and in scent's case - 3 times)... so, it was pretty hard to convince anyone to watch this movie with me.... Thank God, someone downloaded it...

I find the short story interesting.. i find the movie even better... i think it's one of the best after Forest Gump.. (shinyin standing up to say this) --> i would certainly recommend this to everyone!! okay, maybe not everyone.. maybe to those who liked movies like Forrest Gump and Atonement..

The movie is a story, by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a Man who lived his life backwards. A man, like any of us, who is unable to stop time. While everyone was aging, he was growing younger. A tale of living, loving, and losing.. i wouldn't like to give away too much of the movie or the story, i think you should watch it for yourself. It's like Kimchi- whether you love it, or hate it!

There was one loophole though. This movie failed to explain the most importmant part of the title: the curious case- the strange illness or biological nature of Mr Button who was aging backwards. The movie merely swept us off and distracted with picturesques artistic themes and overflowing emotions that the logic part was not adressed.

Other recommended good read: Pride & Prejudice (the movie by Kiera Knightley was awesome! i wonder how's the story...) - will find time...

p/s:i was attending a talk by the MMC this morning, when the speaker said : 'You have to renew your licience every year after full registration. It's not auto-renewable. You now, like your driving licience, you'll have to renew it yourself' (she said with a sinister smile)... then i was like S-H-I-T!!!! i opened my wallet and stared at the numbers: 06/01/2004-05/01/2009....... my driving licience had expired 1 month ago!!! i've been driving with an expired driving licience for the past one whole month! it's a good thing i didn't get a ticket during the festive season. i tried to convince Aland that 'not having a driving licience' and 'having an expired driving licience' is two totally different things! i can't be sure how serious would the offense be, if i ever got caught (touch wood!). - will renew my driving licience tomorrow..
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Spoilers:

Mrs Maple: Benjamin, we're meant to lose the people we love. How else would we know how important they are to us?

Benjamin Button: Along the way you bump into people who make a dent on your life. Some people get struck by lightning. Some are born to sit by a river. Some have an ear for music. Some are artists. Some swim the English Channel. Some know buttons. Some know Shakespeare. Some are mothers. And some people can dance.

Daisy: Would you still love me if I were old and saggy?
Benjamin Button: Would you still love ME if I were young and had acne? When I'm afraid of what's under the bed? Or if I end up wetting the bed?

Benjamin Button: I'm always lookin' out my own eyes.

Captain Mike: You can be as mad as a mad dog at the way things went. You could swear, curse the fates, but when it comes to the end, you have to let go.

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my favourite segment from the movie, i liked the way the shot was taken.... and it enhanced something i once believed very much in, that 'everything happens for some reason' :

Benjamin Button:
Sometimes we're on a collision course, and we just don't know it.
Whether it's by accident or by design, there's not a thing we can do about it.
A woman in Paris was on her way to go shopping,
but she had forgotten her coat - went back to get it.
When she had gotten her coat, the phone had rung, so she'd stopped to answer it; talked for a couple of minutes.
While the woman was on the phone, Daisy was rehearsing for a performance at the Paris Opera House.
And while she was rehearsing, the woman, off the phone now, had gone outside to get a taxi.
Now a taxi driver had dropped off a fare earlier and had stopped to get a cup of coffee.
And all the while, Daisy was rehearsing.
And this cab driver, who dropped off the earlier fare; who'd stopped to get the cup of coffee, had picked up the lady who was going to shopping, and had missed getting an earlier cab.
The taxi had to stop for a man crossing the street, who had left for work five minutes later than he normally did, because he forgot to set off his alarm.
While that man, late for work, was crossing the street, Daisy had finished rehearsing, and was taking a shower.
And while Daisy was showering, the taxi was waiting outside a boutique for the woman to pick up a package, which hadn't been wrapped yet, because the girl who was supposed to wrap it had broken up with her boyfriend the night before, and forgot.

When the package was wrapped, the woman, who was back in the cab, was blocked by a delivery truck, all the while Daisy was getting dressed.
The delivery truck pulled away and the taxi was able to move, while Daisy, the last to be dressed, waited for one of her friends, who had broken a shoelace.
While the taxi was stopped, waiting for a traffic light, Daisy and her friend came out the back of the theater.
And if only one thing had happened differently: if that shoelace hadn't broken; or that delivery truck had moved moments earlier; or that package had been wrapped and ready, because the girl hadn't broken up with her boyfriend; or that man had set his alarm and got up five minutes earlier; or that taxi driver hadn't stopped for a cup of coffee; or that woman had remembered her coat, and got into an earlier cab, Daisy and her friend would've crossed the street, and the taxi would've driven by.

But life being what it is - a series of intersecting lives and incidents, out of anyone's control - that taxi did not go by, and that driver was momentarily distracted, and that taxi hit Daisy, and her leg was crushed.