Tuesday, February 17, 2009

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..
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.



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.

21 comments:

  1. yer u watched liao... i thought wanna watch with u some more... :( gimme the downloaded movie then... is it a clear version with english subtitle?

    ReplyDelete
  2. you wanted to watch with me meh??
    i CLEARLY remembered that you said you wanna drag zilin to watch with you wor... i thought you don't wanna be my movie partner liao =(

    after rejected by you on several occasions (eg Christmas Eve night), i was trying to adapt to the my-single-friend-just-got-a-new-boyfriend,-and-i-need-to-get-a-new-movie-partner-syndrome... Haha!

    but since you said this, next time i don't care liao! Shin Loo, teman me WATCH Slumdog millionaire!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I watched it last Friday, and there's only one thing i can say, its truly a great movie. Unlike many thats filled with drama and climax, this one is more of a meaningful movie. Hidden with many isi isi tersirat. I got the impression that this might a boring movie, but still, im more tempted to know how life is, than to be sleeping in there. NO REGRET!!!

    Like Meet Joe Black, from Brad Pitt, this is another epic movie that caught my attention. I love this movie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. By the way, the author didnt mention, "if the phone did not ring"...

    ReplyDelete
  5. Guess i wasnt the only person forgot to renew my driving license... =P

    ReplyDelete
  6. I watched the movie last weekend with a bunch of friends.. and guess what everybody didn't like the movie.. we love the story thou' but they drag the story too long until we wanna change our sitting position throughout the movie.. and they made the movie look boring and death, with no exciting moment that worth sharing after watching it.. all that we can say is "wah, the writer is really brilliant for thinking out of the box kind of story.." but we didn't actually remember any scene (in the movie) that make you feel 'awe'... my opinion only!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  7. haha.. well.. it is like kimchi :P eh study leh.. finals d.

    ReplyDelete
  8. hey shinyin,
    i bought the DVD for B Button a long time ago. it is still safely tucked inside my dvd case. havent got the time to really watch the movie. perhaps i should huh?

    i studied (read: studied) pride n prejudice during my university years. i find classic novels is so not my cup of tea. i prefer watching the movie..lol

    ReplyDelete
  9. Dann,
    AGREE, this is a GREAT movie... made me think a lot about life.. ponder upon it.... sometimes, i find me relating myself to it...

    p/s: yahor... he didnt mention: if the phone did not ring... Dann, you very observant.. i think life's like that... one thing leads to another... series of events affect one another.. so, we shouldn't live with so many 'what ifs'... as everything happens for some reason... this is a very sad story though..

    p/ss: you forgot to renew your driving license too?? haha!! i just got it renewed today! and i renewed it for 5 years!! hoho~

    ----------------------------
    jeremytuah,
    Funny, coz i actually remember many scenes from the movie... perhaps it was because i was watching at the comfort of my own home, lying on the bed.. i find the movie very reflective of life.. sometimes, we have hopes that we will not grow old... but if we do not age, if time did stay stagnant, it's not all a good thing too... we may end up feeling even more miserable, perhaps.. having to see and lose the people we loved most...

    i learnt that beauty is only skin deep.. and i learnt that everything happens for a reason..

    loved it still, but i think it's very individual.... like KIMCHI- some people loved it, some people don't...
    ----------------------------------
    bingwui,
    i know, finals liao... super SUPER stressed wehh...
    ----------------------------------
    Poh Lin,
    YES, YOU SHOULD WATCH THE DVD!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!! =)

    You studied Pride&Prejudice? i loved the movie!! just can't wait to see how different is it from the book :)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I thought that the whole lead up to the accident in paris monologue was too much of a contrivance.

    Anyhow, there's no such condition. This is a fantasy story. Not a medical one.

    Oh, the guy whu wrote the Forrest Gump screenplay wrote Benjamin Button as well. Splains the similarity.

    ReplyDelete
  11. it is indeed.. it make us to start ponder our own life n trying putting ourselves to BB's shoe.. its a great movie i would say in term of those valuable lessons and reflections on life, but i just said that they drag the movie quite too long with unnecessary scenes.. they should put more drama and action-type of movie to make it more interesting to watch rather than thinking a lot while watching..

    ReplyDelete
  12. dear Shin Yin,
    I have heard a lot of hype about this story but haven't watched it yet. It sounds like a very meaningful and interesting story.
    You actually listen to the dialogue and wrote the script down??
    Chee Hung

    ReplyDelete
  13. sen wai,
    of course, it's not medical at all!! how to explain growing younger? hehe..
    ----------------------------------
    jeremy,
    perhaps if they include more drama or action, it would cater for the other half of the population, (okay maybe more than half) a significant part of the population who somehow find it too flat... perhaps, with this 'flatness', the meaning of the story had been amplified..
    ----------------------------------
    dear Chee Hung,
    it's indeed a meaningful story...

    and to your question, you might not believe this, but yeah, i did.. some of it... hehe.. i know it's crazy, but i watched it from my computer, and therefore, i could pause it and write them down =P

    i wrote down all except the last one... the last one was too long, so i goggled it online :)

    p/s: and i don't usually do crazy stuffs like this

    ReplyDelete
  14. i want to watch slumdog millionaire alsooooooOOooO .. !^^

    ReplyDelete
  15. pong, let's go watch... audrey also said wanna watch!! but i got MAJOR exam in 15 days leh... 15DAYS!!!

    ReplyDelete
  16. haha, havent' watched benjamin button though, no idea what it's all about...

    anyways, slumdog millionaire is pretty excellent, looking forward to compare both movies, considering the fact that slumdog won a few silvers already!...

    oh yes, exams wei exams, hor ee sih!!

    hehe, good luck!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Shin Yin (thats ur name rite..??),

    lol.. i just love you.. you have explanations for everything.. i think i like you.. and i personally think you will become a very good doctor, indeed... you know wut, i owez want to be a doctor but i know its too late already..

    p/s if one day u attended me as ur patient, please don't charge lebih2 ya...hehehe

    ReplyDelete
  18. khek yang, Yes, you should watch The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.. i think you will like it! =)
    you enjoy your last few days in Msia ya~
    *exams* *exams* exams* *exhausted*
    ------------------------------------
    jeremy, yes, that's my name. you can call me shinyin. Thanks =) i hope i will graduate soon and be a good doctor... There's so much that i want to do!! and i hope, if we were to meet someday, we will not meet as doctor-patient, but we shall meet as friends :) and it's never too late for anything, i hope you enjoy what you are doing ^^ take care~

    ReplyDelete
  19. wauu...somebody likes you hah...i love you too (^_~) keep on blogging so i can keep on reading :P :P

    ReplyDelete
  20. haha! boonLee, i love you very much too *muaks* (hehe..)..... lately not much time to blog more interesting stuffs.. with exams and all... you wanna help me?

    ReplyDelete
  21. p/s: eh you got watch this movie or not? very nice leh.... i highly recommend it to you ^^ i think you'll sure watch till cry de... hehe..

    ReplyDelete

dear friends, firstly, thanks for leaving your comments.. they are very much valued :)

secondly, do remember to leave your name =)
i'll like to know how can i address you ^^ thx

oh yes, if you do not have a blog/URL, just select open ID and leave the URL section blank :)

Author's Note

Dear friends and readers, Thank you for dropping by and leaving comments/ shoutouts. More importantly, thank you for being there... please accept my apology that, lately, i may be busy with work and not have time to reply youir messages/comments, but rest assured, each and everyone is read, and highly appreciated :) have a nice day! ^^

of love

Today, i heard a story which was not a story of falling...
of living in the dark end of winter turmoil..
instead, it was a love story..
of a couple who did not live happily ever after...
but they live, loving each other..