The progression of a person’s career is often an interesting one. To watch an actor like Brad Pitt go from an attractive background extra to a leading character in a complex role is fascinating to watch. To see director David Fincher go from directing videos for Madonna to directing an elegant, well thought out dramas is also fascinating to say the least. These two artists crossed my mind while watching another interesting journey that both of these artists played a large part in bringing to the screen: ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.’ Watching the progression of the movie, the characters, and the people who created the film is a very insightful, intriguing, and yes, very LONG journey to watch and behold.

The film’s story is very curious indeed. It appears that our main character, Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), has been born with the strange sensation of aging backwards. No that doesn’t mean that his mother literally gave birth to a six foot old man, but the baby she brought into this world is covered in wrinkles and possesses all the health problems of an 80 year old man. As Benjamin grows older though, he also seems to grow younger. His wrinkles slowly vanish, his health gets better, and he learns life lessons much like any child his age would. Considered an abomination, his father (Jason Flemyng) abandons him at the foot of a retirement home run by a woman named Queenie (Taraji P. Henson). She takes him in and decides to raise him as her own, and seeing how she mostly takes care of old people to begin with, it’s nothing new to her.

As Benjamin becomes older and…well, younger, he long to journey the world and thus joind a tugboat crew who show him the rough and gruff ways of the sea. Ben encounters several characters and life experiences, growing both wise with age but younger in health. Few people know about his condition aside from his mother, but another person who does is Daisy (Cate Blanchett), who starts off being Ben’s childhood sweetheart (or is it “Elderly Sweetheart?”) and grows up to have a strong and heartwarming relationship together. But as she grows older, Ben grows younger, and thus the trouble of how this will affect them in the future often comes up. They keep focused on each other but know that at some point they have to ask themselves what is going to happen to him? Will he shrink to the size of a baby? Will he grow taller but have a face like a child? Will his intelligence stay or will it fade away to the innocence of youth?

These questions are answered but not focused on as much as they should be. The majority of the movie is based on Benjamin’s adventures as a sailor and his time in the nursing home with his mother. But this is not so bad as these scenes are treated elegantly and with care. Aside from Pitt and Blanchett who give solid performances, there are no celebrities in this film, which makes it kind of fresh and enjoyable as no big names ever overpower the performances. The progression Benjamin’s life is not action packed or laughably funny, it’s quiet and subtle, much like the man being portrayed. While certain symbols and themes might be lost on some people, it is interesting to see a child treated with the respect of an old man and an essentially old man treated with the delicacy of a child, which could play a part in the message of the film. While it does have a whimsical element to it, nothing is to obvious or shoved in your face, it keeps it’s quiet and gentle nature all throughout the film, never beating us too hard on the head with what the movie is trying to get across.

And then of course there’s the length. WOW is this movie long. With a running time of 2 hours 47 minutes, ‘Benjamin Button’ does not go by fast. Like I said it might have benefitted from showing in more detail the end of his life and the details of how it plays out (I think that’s draws people to the story in the first place), but with that said the film never lags or drags on. All the relationships are well crafted, the story kept me interested, and I can’t really think of any scenes that should be cut. But the length does show, and many of us will find it hard to sit through a film this long that is not action or comedy oriented without an intermission. The film is slow but still interesting, there’s no big hook or surprise at the end and nothing about it seems especially large or epic, but to its credit I don’t believe it’s supposed to be. It is a quiet film, an innocent film, a film that journeys through life rather than ride through adventure, and for what it was trying to accomplish, it does succeed.

So who’ll like it? Fans of slow but delicate films that are more based on relationships and life experiences than exciting moments or tear jerking drama.

Who won’t like it? Anyone who hates long movies will find it rough to sit through. Also anyone looking for a large, epic movie will probably be underwhelmed by the film’s soft nature.

My thoughts? I liked this film, though I would probably like it more had I been watching it at home with a few breaks in-between. The film at no point really me heart broken or teary eyed, but it did manage to keep me invested in the characters and what was going to happen to them. The writer of the movie is Eric Roth, who wrote ‘Forrest Gump.’ While Forrest Gump’s journey was large and epic, it was also obvious and not very subtle. In away, ‘Benjamin Button’ is the opposite. Yes it follows a simple man through his unique and awkward life, but it also has a tad more subtlety to it, while leaving out a lot of the loud explosions and famous historical events. I’ll admit I’ve never read the original F. Scott Fitzgerald story that the film is based on, so I have nothing to compare it to. But as a film, it stands strong enough and smart enough to warrant a viewing (maybe even two once it comes to DVD and Blu-Ray). The film, much like it’s main character, is simple but affective.

Douglas Darien is a featured writer for Xomba.com. Read the rest of his work here or visit his website www.thatguywiththeglasses.com.