I wish we lived in a wold where, if they couldn't come up with a movie like Benjamin Button, they just wouldn't make a movie at all; we would have the guarantee of being completely swept away to another world for the price of a movie ticket. Seriously, movie-making doesn't get any better than this; and, if you ask me, I don't think this movie was nominated for enough Oscars (but for one or two scenes here and there -- which we could have done away with -- the movie is perfect).
In The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Brad Pitt is a guy who is born old and grows younger with age. That superb circumstance allows the movie to portray the impossible and heartbreaking love story between our aging-challenged Brad Pitt and a person aging as we all do (played by Cate Blanchett). I started crying at the scene when a 7-year old Cate sees the old-looking Brad for the first time.
The acting is superb across the board (Cate easily deserved a nomination for her role here).
We had a tiny bit of gay content. In one scene, Cate Blanchett tells Brad that there are a few lesbians in her dance company and that one of them proposed sleeping with her, she seemed proud of that, she was very non-judgmental -- and so was Brad's character. Nice. Later on, when we see some of the people within her dance company, you could see some guys who could have been gay (ok, I'll say it: they looked pretty gay) -- but we don't really know that, so I'm leaving that out.
You absolutely must see this movie.
The problem with Benjamin Button for me was that it seemed dishonest in a pretty basic way. What I mean is that it is very historically situated and it presents the interaction of Blacks and Whites in New Orleans, yet one would never know that there was a civil rights struggle throughout much of the time covered in the movie. The Blacks and Whites are so kind to each other in this movie, you would never know of the fierce resistance to integration on the part of white people. (To say nothing of the outrage that would have been expressed by racists seeing Black people raising a white child.)
Posted by: Jay | Oct 09, 2009 at 12:43 PM
I havn't seent he movie yet but thanks to your review I will go see it. cheers
Posted by: Luke | Feb 23, 2009 at 11:30 PM
I think I'll have to wait for the marketing people to send me a screener for Prayers for Bobby -- I don't get the channel it was on...I did see For the Bible Tells Me So the other day, it's excellent, I'll post about it soon. Gays should really see it.
Posted by: queerbeacon | Feb 07, 2009 at 11:03 AM
I completely agree. I loved Benjamin Button - it was great.
Also, make sure to watch Prayers for Bobby. I'm anxious to see what you think of it. :)
Posted by: Tom | Jan 27, 2009 at 07:51 PM