The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Essay Example

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button Director David Fincher has made the film, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, in 2008. The film featured eminent Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt, in the role of Benjamin Button, and the female leads were played by Cate Blanchet and Tilda Swinton. The plot of the film was based upon reverse timing. Benjamin Button was born as an adult, and, as years passed by, he started growing younger. Ultimately, Benjamin has become a toddler and eventually died. The story revolves around the scenarios and events that occur due to the reverse growth of the film’s lead character Benjamin Button. Ways of looking at movies A film can be judged and perceived in a number of ways. A critical analysis of the movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is done from this point of view. Cultural Invisibility For a half hearted viewer, the cultural backgrounds and prejudices that lie within the surface of a movie go unnoticed. In order to actually understand a film, one has to understand not only what the director wants to implicate through the film but also the facts that the director has unintentionally shown in the film (“Looking at movies: chapter overview”). In case of this movie, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the director has portrayed the drama that occurs due to the reverse ageing. In the other version, the director has conveyed the scenarios of how situations and relationships in life can alter if a man is born as an adult and dies as a toddler. In the movie, life, love, and the things we cannot hold on to are depicted in a graceful manner. The cultural invisibility lies in the timelessness of the movie. The pathos of reverse aging can be felt in every shot as Benjamin becomes younger as the years pass. Implicit and explicit meaning Explicit meaning is what can be easily seen and understood as it remains on the surface of the movie. Implicit meaning is less obvious and needs concentration of viewers to understand. It generally carries a message and is often debatable (Barsam & Monahan, 11-13). In the case of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, the director explicitly showcases the eventual death of the prime character of the movie, Benjamin Button. The emotional struggle of the character is the apparent theme of the movie. The tale of backward aging of a man is depicted in a flawless classical manner giving full attention to every detail in every scene. In the implicit context, the director demonstrates the discovery of a new life due to the reverse ageing. The implicit meaning of the movie gives the message that life is very short, and one needs to value each moment of his life. Viewer Expectation The most formidable challenge of a director of a movie is to fulfill expectations of viewers. The acknowledged movie essentially matches the viewer’s expectations, and even in some places crosses the satisfaction level of the viewers. The film is a true epic in itself and has essentially accomplished the expectation of the viewers with simplicity. The satisfaction of the viewers comes from the fact that the director not only portrays the death of Benjamin button on the movie, but also showcases the life that is discovered in the movie. Formal Analysis Formal analysis means studying the different aspects of a movie like its camerawork, light, sound, editing, and so on and how all these components are complied to make a complete movie. (“Writing about film”) The film essentially depicts the story of a person who is born an elderly person, and eventually succumbs to death as a toddler. The story of the movie revolves around the incidents and variations in the relationships of the prime character of the movie, Benjamin Button. The movie portrays the character’s relationship with his parents, his love, and his daughter. In the portrayal of this curious condition of the central character, all the technical aspects like light, sound, editing etc. played a major role. The film was mostly shot in “deep focus images” to insert maximum message in each frame. With digital shooting, it was possible to achieve extraordinary depths of blacks (McCarthy). Principles of Film Form Lighting Although lighting of a movie is considered as an easy task, it is actually more complicated. Consistency of lighting helps a movie to appear as appealing to the viewers (“The lighting in movies”). The movement of camera and lights plays a major role in the portrayal of the character Benjamin Button. As Benjamin Button played by the Hollywood actor Brad Pitt is initially showcased as an old man, the lighting effects help in understanding the makeup of Brad Pitt as an elderly man. The lighting of the movie has been perfectly done to bring out the right feel of the movie. Acting The financial and cultural conditions of a movie affect the performance of an actor. In the “classical studio era”, Hollywood produced “stars” rather than truly gifted actors. Acting is that aspect of a movie which the director cannot control beyond a certain limit. It is the emotional portrayal by the actors that gives dimensions to the theme of the movie (“Acting: Chapter Overview). The film’s leading role is played by famous Hollywood actor, Brad Pitt. Brad plays the character of Benjamin Button with efficiency. The effort put by brad Pitt in the character he portrays is evident from the Oscar nomination that he has received due to the film. The character of Benjamin Button was critically acclaimed and that was one of the reasons of success of the film. Other significant acting contribution in the film includes the character of Benjamin’s girlfriend Daisy William played by popular Hollywood actress, Cate Blanchet. Editing It is the task of editors to assemble different shots of a movie to give a particular kind of feeling. A scene which has poor photography and poor performance can be hidden from the viewers by skillful editing. An editor needs to be creative and confident. (“Editing glossary: learn the terms”) The editors of the film acclaimed that the movie was essentially a severe challenge for them. The editing phenomenon in the movie was intense due to the different styles and scenes that were attributed to the main character Benjamin Button. The editors efficiently used the advantages of implicating digital tools in the movie. There was a scene which was from a fable narrated by Cate Blanchet. To give the scene an “old movie look”, the editors used magic bullet. Adobe after effects was used for the final processing of the film (Peters). Sound effects The experience of a movie is affected by its sound effects. The sound of a movie is purposely planned and controlled when the camera is active. The film sound plays many roles, and various types can be used for a single scene (“Sound: chapter overview”). The sound design in the movie is essentially lively. However, the liveliness in the sound is seldom unmotivated. The major implications of sound effects in the movie include the short war scene that was showcased, the outdoor activity scenes of Louisiana and New York City, the scenes near the oceans, and the others. The aural representation in the movie is significantly splendid. In spite of the fact that the work done by the sound production team is essentially close to perfect, yet there was room for mistakes like the decision they took to dub the voice of the character “little daisy”. (“Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Criterion Collection”) Video effects The movie has implemented the most sophisticated video quality procedures in the industry. The movie is bounded by an illustrated look. The most emphasized part is the scenes outside the nursing home. The implementation of monochromatic lights in the night scene adds to the beauty of the movie. The mono chromatic light enlightens the portrayal of the crisp and silent scenario of the night. Although the major portions of the film are portrayed by the cinematography beautifully, there are slight problems in the scenarios when Benjamin reaches his middle age. The movie has also got significant recognition from the Oscars, with the film wining the Oscars for best art direction (“Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Criterion Collection”). Realism and antirealism Every movie has two aspects, one that portrays realistic views, and the other that does not. Although the story of the movie which is about reverse aging is completely fictional, still there are many parts of the movies that can create emotional bonding with viewers. The pathos of being forsaken at birth, the challenges of loving someone whose life goes in completely opposite direction create some emotions that come out as real. Verisimilitude In movies nothing is essentially true and verisimilitude is defined as “the appearance of truth”. Whenever the director decides to portray something, instant decisions are taken to create a stage of deception with clever camera angle, editing, sound, lighting, and so on. (“Verisimilitude”) Curious case of Benjamin Button is based on reverse aging. Reverse aging is a phenomenon which is beyond realism. From the realistic point of view, ageing during the lifetime of an individual occurs from young to old. However, in the movie, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, the ageing process of the main character Benjamin Button is essentially reverse, which implies that Benjamin button ages from old to young. Elements of Narrative Story and plot The Curious Case of Benjamin Button adapted from the 1922 story by F. Scott Fitzgerald and directed by David Flincher is a fantasy-drama film which tells us the unusual story of a man who has born with physical appearance of a very old man, aged backwards towards his youth, and finally died as an infant. Benjamin was born in New Orleans just after the World War I. After birth, he was deserted by his father. He was brought up by Queenie. Throughout his life, he underwent joys and sadness, loved and lost his beloved, and also experienced meaning of eternity.  Narration Movies which are adapted from literature have abundant scope for telling a story. The narrator can give a clear picture of what a character is feeling or thinking. The camera can give the viewers visual information. However, the psychology of characters can be well explained through narration (“Narration in Film”). The story of Benjamin’s life is told by his daughter Caroline from his diary. The narrator starts by telling that he is about to impart an astonishing history. It is through his narration that the viewers get a notion of the surreal storyline. Conclusion The movie is a fantastic piece of art and is essentially a story about life and death. It invokes among the viewers the urge to cherish their loved ones. Although the movie has a fantasy element of reverse aging, it is rooted in the real world. It is a tender and meaningful movie that makes the viewers realize that the most memorable moments of life pass away even before they can be grasped. Works Cited “Acting: chapter overview”. Norton, William Warder, wwnorton. n.d. Web. April 30, 2012 from Barsam, Richard & Dave Monahan. Looking at movies: an introduction to film, W.W. Norton & Co. 2010. Print. Becker, Josh. “Verisimilitude”. Beckerfilms. October 4, 1998. Web. April 30, 2012 from “Curious Case of Benjamin Button: Criterion Collection”. dvdactive. n.d. Web. April 30, 2012 from “Editing glossary: learn the terms”, learner. n.d. Web. April 30, 2012 from Gocsik, Karen. “Writing about film”. Dartmouth. July 12, 2005. Web. April 30, 2012 from “Looking at movies: chapter overview”. Norton, William Warder, wwnorton. n.d. Web. April 30, 2012 from McCarthy, Todd. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”. Variety. December 1, 2008. Web. April 30, 2012 from “Sound: chapter overview”. Norton, William Warder, wwnorton. n.d. Web. April 30, 2012 from: Peters, Oliver. “The Curious Case of Benjamin Bullet”. Videography magazine. December 27, 2008. Web. April 30, 2012 from Schmidt, Johann N. “Narration in Film”. Uni-hamburg. December 2, 2011. Web. April 30, 2012 from “The lighting in movies”. Carvinglight. n.d. Web. April 30, 2012 from Read More