Maybe Benjamin Barbell?

This week we began a discussion of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," the short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It takes about an hour to read and can be found online here at Project Gutenberg (with the rest of "Tales of the Jazz Age") and here on its own. Our discussion turns from the story itself to the film adaptation, which opened Dec. 25.

Shaft, I'm not sure I'm with you on this bell curve thing. That describes how a bunch of people fall out -- lots in the middle, few on the ends. As John says, the story covers a lot of ground, and decades go by in paragraphs. In this way, I think the text is more like a barbell: it weights the attention on the ends of Benjamin Button's life, and is thinner in the middle. I think this is so the story can focus on the times when Benjamin's experience is significantly different from those around him, when those contrasts reveal the indignities we suffer, and the sometimes ridiculous assumptions we make.

I think, from the previews I've seen, that the film spends a lot more time on the middle parts of Button's life. And with that, let me ask: How do you think "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" will work as a film? What are your expectations of it?

-- Carolyn Kellogg

Photo by Andew Eick via Flickr

Comments

[Ciarrai]

Say what you will about the movie "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button". It's too long, Brad Pitt is not in the same league as Cate Blanchett, it is a version of "Forrest Gump", etc. We saw the movie earlier this evening and my wife and I found it to be a very moving, poignant experience. I had a rare experience of tears in a movie theatre. It was such that I wished I felt it appropriate to let myself go and have a session of weeping with the attendant wails and cries. I mean it: this movie grabbed me in a way that I have probably never experienced before. The story was so rich and well acted that the length was not an issue. The pathos engendered was real and substantial. It just hit me in the heart and I am thankful that I suggested we see it and not what my wife had wanted to see (Australia). Brad Pitt is not just a pretty face. His acting in this was way above the average movie calibre. He was believable and poingnant in his portrayal throughout. Cat e Blanchett was terrific. Everyone was dead on. Not one bad, off job in the whole picture. And man, I had a great cry. Thanks.

[Movie Goer]

At the end of the movie, I cried. I felt like this was an instant classic. A beautiful film. I am defiantly going to see this many more times. It moved me so much. This film deserves best makeup, best screenplay, best actor, best supporting actress, and even best picture when it comes to the 2009 Oscars! This film was simply amazing! I bet that 100 years from now, this film will be watched still in astonishment!!! Bravo is all I can say now.