Growing younger as you age! A very interesting premise for a great story! This is the Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
The plot has a philosophy very similar to Forrest Gump’s - "Life’s a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re going to get." Benjamin is abandoned on the first day of his life as his father can’t stand his appearance. Brought up in an old age home, the movie shows how he changes as he grows up, his adventures, his love story and ultimately his last days and death.
While the movie manages to keep you glued to the seats for the better part, it is not treated very uniformly. Benjamin’s love story with his childhood sweetheart forms the most time-consuming part of this movie, while his growing up years and, particularly, his last few years don’t get much attention.
And there are quite a few chinks in the plot. For example, Benjamin is born with a body that resembles an old man. But he is very tiny when he is born. As he grows older in age, his body becomes more youthful and he also grows in size. However, around his 55th-60th year, he starts growing smaller in size and dies as a very small baby.
The negatives apart, Brad Pitt’s performance is fabulously understated. He strengthens the other masterstroke of the director - people get used to Benjamin and don’t treat him like a special person.
As I left the theater, I felt that I’d enjoyed the show but somehow 2 thoughts lingered-