Button Down, Button Up

By Steven Zeitchik

If you turned Benjamin Button around and, following both the conceit of the movie and the trajectory of its main character, watched it from end to beginning, you'd wind up with the same assessment as if you watched it the normal way: really strong, a little saggy, really strong.

For about forty-five minutes the concept takes you by storm (and makes your head hurt, in a good way), with the narrative and visual inventiveness not seen in an American film in a long time (at least one not made by Charlie Kaufman, anyway). The movie (some spoilers below) droops a little after that, as Button begins to make his discoveries out in the world.

But it rebounds powerfully in its final hour as the doomed love story (he's getting younger, she's getting older, and they can only be in love for a few years in the middle) finally takes flower and as Button reaches the end (that is, the beginning) of his life.  It winds down on a note of melancholy that will break your heart  (and make it, frankly, a slightly tougher sell than expected as a popcorn entertainment while winning it, undoubtedly, scores of awards supporters. Fincher -- more from him in another post shortly -- quipped in a post-screening talk Saturday: "All those big blockbuster themes -- death, loneliness.")

There are a few small flaws. A frame story about Hurricane Katrina might have felt organic as the New Orleans-set film was being made but feels a little out of place here. And Pitt's acting and character are, contrary to how you might expect material like this to be handled, actually a little understated. We come in expecting moments of easy point-scoring, even broad comedy, as a man who looks old but thinks young fights to adjust to the world. Fortunately, there's little of that. But the picture actually tips a little too far the other way -- the idea of a teenage septuagenarian or a wise teenager is existentially wacky, and there could have been more fun had with that.

But these are small flaws. The movie delivers on pretty much every other level -- it's funny, thought-provoking, stylish, human, artful but not inaccessible. Even when it's taking some obvious cues, you won't mind.

The comparison most likely to make the rounds is Forrest Gump, and there's something to it --  a kind of blank-slate main character who things seem to happen to; a life-changing experience in a war he didn't intend to be in; persistently raised questions about fate and destiny; a lifelong love who's as much an idealized version of beauty as she is the real thing; and a strong single mother (complete with her own aphorism about life's unexpectedness to rival any box of chocolates line).

The comparison that also could be made is to another great work of art this season, the aforementioned Charlie K and his "Synecdoche, NY." In each, we're watching a man with a tragic air hovering above him move through his life and loves, ultimately knowing that in both cases, the man is doomed.

But this won't matter. There's much that's original here -- mythic storytelling, colorful atmosphere, philosophical depth, textured relationships -- to trip over anything else. Plus there's the visual panache that comes in the form not just of the older and younger versions of Brad Pitt but the period touches, often told in the style of various old movies. Doomed romance has never looked this good. Ditto for a big-budget, star-driven studio love story.