"I was born under unusual circumstances." And so begins "Benjamin Button," adapted from the classic 1920s story by F. Scott Fitzgerald about a man who is born in his 80s and ages backwards. A man, like any of us, unable to stop time. We follow his story set in New Orleans from the end of World War I in 1918, into the 21st century, following his journey that is as unusual as any man's life can be. "Benjamin Button" is a time traveler's tale of the people and places he bumps into along the way, the loves he loses and finds, the joys of life and the sadness of death, and what lasts beyond time.
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In "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Brad Pitt ages in reverse, from Methuselah to Robert Redford to infancy in about 2 1/2 hours. When Benjamin is 60 he looks 20, and we have on our hands the perfect movie for a time of enhanced age-defiance. And David Fincher, the movie's director, is a cosmetic surgeon of sorts, exacting a spectacularly artificial work of beauty. Watching a smooth face emerge from so much bunched and ruched skin is like seeing a piece of ripe fruit emerge from its husk. "Benjamin Button" is several hours of meticulous peeling - but not of a grapefruit but a grape. (Full review)