Movie Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2009 May 18

Title: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)
Nominated for 13 Oscars. Won three.
Lost out to Slum Dog Millionire in major categories including best picture.

Starring: Brad Pitt, Taraji P Henson, Kate Blanchett, Julia Ormond, Elias Kuotaes
Directed by: David Fincher
Written by: Eric Roth and Robin Swicord
Music: Alesandre Desplat
Makeup: A big team lead by Greg Canom (Oscar)
Director of Photography Claudio Miranda
Art Direction: Donald Graham Burt and Set Decorator: Victor J Zalfo ( Joint OSCAR AWARD Best Acheivement in Art Direction)
Visual Effects: Team of four. (Oscar)
Rating: PG 13

Score: 6 out of 10

Having been a favorite at the Oscars along with Slum Dog Millionaire, this movie has a really fascinating story line. The story starts of with Kate Blanchett as an old and frail woman who is expecting to die shortly. She asks her daughter to read a diary the narration of which is the story. At the heart of the story is the thought of what would happen if we were able to reverse the march of time. To underscore this angle the movie starts of with the installation of a clock which runs backwards.

The story has at its begging the birth of Benjamin into the Button family which owns the hugely profitable Button company. Benjamin as new born has an ugly face and the family members find his look reprehensible. Adding to this woe the mother dies due to complications during birth. Mr Button is so furious that he tries to kill the child but ends up leaving it in the care Queenie (Taraji) who is taking care of elderly people in a nursing home. Queenie is happy that she found a new born baby and names him Benjamin.

There is some heart warming but incredulous developments here. When Taraji and every one discovers the baby has the face of really really old man, it is odd that they do not have some kind of fear of it. I can understand feeling love for a baby that is deformed or is unfortunate to be thought of unattractive. But an old man in the shape of a baby is a scary and weird happening which needs some display of horror. The fact that I did not see this a bit less unnatural. I am not questioning the old man baby syndrome but the reaction of the people around the phenomenon.

I guess there is some strong meta physical meaning to the fact that an old man is born and start growing younger and younger while other children grow older older. The very obvious thought that comes to mind is the universal desire to not grow old. The movie get more aggressive in talking about not only not growing old but in fact growing younger. Obviously you have to be old in order to show that your getting younger. So baby had to be born as an old man. This is odd. It would have been interesting to see what would be the story if Benjamin was born normally, grew old and then started growing younger.

The phenomenon of Benjamin growing younger down to marriageable age and a little girl Daisy (Kate Blanchett) growing up to be of a marriageable age and meeting half way is interesting. It is interesting how both Benjamin and Daisy loose their innocence on the way. Benjamin goes to sea and experience his initiation into adult life including romance, sex, war and camaraderie. Daisy experiences the same by going to New york to become a ballet dancer. It is the meeting of these two souls which throws up some interesting drama.

I guess what the films shows if not intentionally is that growing young is not pleasant. On the contrary it is a very stressful experience. It is interesting to see where Benjamin is heading as he gets younger. Kate Blanchett's character on the other hand is growing old in the natural way and it appears that this natural process of getting is in fact quite beautiful though apparently dreaded by humanity.


The movie begin with a a woman giving birth to a OLD man baby and ends with Baby old man. The whole story is narrated by a young woman who is growing up normally to a dying mother.


All these make for a fascinating story. There is some quite believable make up wizardry that helps to show Brad Pitt going through different stages of life. Good acting by Kate Blanchett. But that is all I took from this movie. I did not find the movie neither high on entertaining nor did I have a learning experience. So I am even surprised that it got as many as 13 Oscar nominations. Apart from making Brad Pitt look like a baby-that-looks-old or an old-man-that-looks-like-a-baby I do not see any film making artistry in play here. And the movie was long too, crossing 2 hours 17 minutes.

Now I think that it was only justifiable that Slum Dog swept the Oscars.

I give this movie a 6 out of 10.

Kannada Sahitya Goshti program on May 16.

Panel discussion on 'ondu haley chaddi' written by Mogalli Ganesh.

You can listen to the story 'ondu hale chaddi' read by Madhu here.

Here is a very good sounding board to bring up some good discussion on social issues, writing style, character development and use of language

This Saturday we will be having a very interesting discussion on MogaLLi Ganesh's short story oMdu haLe ceDDi. The story is a vivid depiction of life, its ups and downs and customs of the invisible majority of India.

A panel of 6 members will discuss this story and share what goes on in their mind when they read this story or hear others discuss it.

Program details:
Date : May 16th 2009, Saturday
Time : 2:00 to 4:30 PM
Place: Community Room, Los Altos Library
13 S. San Antonio Road
Los Altos CA 94022

Panel:
Suresh Babu
Ravi Gopal Rao
Vishvanath Hulikal
Ganesh Kadaba
Prabhu Murthy
Prakash Nayak

Moderator:
Madhu Krishnamurthy

Review: Vicky Cristina Barcelona

2009 May 12 Title: Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)
Starring: Javier Bardem, Scarlett Johansson, Penelope Cruz, Rebbecca Hall
Written and Directed by: Woody Allen

Score: 7.6 out of 10

Woody Alan the master American director explores the human desire for fulfillment in his latest movie. Two friends Scarlett Johansson and Rebbecca Hall move to Barcelona, Spain. Vicky is there to study about Spanish culture while Christina is there to spend the summer. They are introduced to a local painter Antonio who is lately estranged from his wife and is rumored that she tried to kill him On an afternoon Javier meets the 2 ladies and asks them to join him on a private flight to a nearby vacation spot. By way of enticing them he says very casually that the two women are beautiful, they could do some art, all three can have good wine, food and go to bed together. Vicky is shocked to hear this innovative pick up line but Christina is so enamored by the brashness and celebrity of the painter (Bardem) that she is eager to go. She thinks he is interesting .

It should be mentioned here that she has just ended her umpteenth relationship and is always on the look out for a new relationship. Vicky considers her an idiot and is almost protective of her. But Christina is so hungry for romance and that 'perfect man' she convinces Vicky to go with her.

What follows is a serious look at the lives of people who do not fit the model of a 'normal' everyday human being. Vicky is there as the normal everyday person to contrast Christina. But Woody Alan is such a master of human mind games that he has served up a beautiful movie, well acted and off course funny in a wry sort of way.

The movie uses music, art, food, familial relationships and the bohemian feel of Spanish Europe to navigate through the labyrinth of human mind. As we wade through the murky, dark, dull and unexpected turns and twists inside this labyrinth we come across emotions and reactions from the characters which are unexpected but understandable at the same time. The characters have fears, confusion, greed and lust. All of which makes us like the characters.

What the movie succeeds to do is to take us through the upheavals of the characters, show us the roller coaster ride they go through and make us realize that our minds and lives are in fact a roller coaster. But at the end of the movie I felt that the roller coaster ride is protected by the cushion of human behavior and bonds.


All the leading actors have giving beautiful and natural performance. I found Xavier Bardem's character to be very likable. It is to his credit that he makes it likable despite the traits of the character. Penelope Cruz shows that she needs to be take seriously. Scarlett is now a seasoned actress and she does great without stealing the show which is the hall mark of good actor. But for me the memorable character was Vicky played by the English actor Rebbecca Hall who had notable roles in The Prestige and Frost/Nixon. She displays so many emotions in her eyes, especially in the last scene that it is hard not be swayed.

Woody Alan is simply coasting along giving movies after good movies. The music adds to the color and artistry seen in the visuals with Spain's beautiful vineyards, country side and life in general showing elegance in every turn. Photography and Art Direction have done a great job in lifting up this movie to a higher plane.

This movie gets 7.5 out of 10

Review: The Reader

2009 May 6

Title: The Reader
Starring: Ralph Fiennes, David Cross, Kate Winslet
Directed by: Stephen Daldry
Written by:David Hare and Bernard Schnik

5.5 out of 10

I waited for 10 days before I got a chance to watch this movie. I started to watch it having decided that I may not be able to watch it fully in one sitting. I watched in 3 sittings being interrupted by my 3 year old Daughter a couple of times

I was under the impression this was a violent movie and had some blood in it. It was not. The story is set in various time periods mostly in Germany. We start with the current time which is mid nineties and see the character of Michael Berg played by Ralph Feinnes. As Michael reminisces on his life we see his past unfold in front of eyes. We are taking back to early 1950s when Germany had come out of the fascist Nazi rule. We see a torrid love affair develop between Michael who is then a 15 year old boy and a middle aged woman Hannah Schmitz played by Kate Winslet. The atmosphere is very well set to take us back to those days. But what follows does not seem to add up to a compellingly told story. The whole movie during this part seems to be about Michael's affair with Hannah and adds little value to the development of the story. The scenes are plain raw and does not have much subtle characterization except for when Michael and Hannah go on a picnic. We see Hannah break down during a Church coir which has shades of meaning associated with it.

Amidst scenes of Michael growing up and getting a law degree we see flashbacks to different time periods. Much to the credit of the director the non linear narration seems to gel smoothly with the story. Ralph Fiennes has given a studied performance. The big disappointment came from Kate Winslet for her role as Hannah Schmitz. She does not have much to work with, in her role. Her performance pales in comparison with those of Angelina Jolie in Changeling and Sally Hawkins - the heroine in Happy go Lucky, as well as Mellisa Leo the heroine in Frozen River. As an aside I wonder how they get around the fact that the leading character is a minor and has been asked to act in mature scenes.


Still this did not interest me beyond the curiousity about Kate Winslet's performance which received the Oscar for the best female lead in acting.

The music is haunting. Nice photography. Good acting and a good story. But I did not find it strong enough.

So I give this movie 5.5 out of 10