Reviews of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Wendy and Lucy
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Criterion Collection/Paramount
$30
2-Disc: $35
Blu-Ray: $40
Plot: After being born an old man, New Orleans resident Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) ages in reverse, learning about life and love on his way from the grave to the cradle.
Opinion: It’s very easy to poke fun at The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. After all, for a movie with such a fantastical premise, it takes itself incredibly seriously. Every frame is bathed in nostalgic golden glow, while an overbearing score and portentous narration (written by Eric Roth and intoned in Brad Pitt’s cloying Cajun accent) ensure that there are never any quiet moments. And even though the film is about twenty minutes shorter than the last Lord of the Rings movie, it feels twice as long because the pace is so slow and deliberate. So yes, you might spend the first hour or so of Benjamin Button alternately yawning, chuckling or checking your watch. But once Benjamin and his true love Daisy (Cate Blanchett) “meet in the middle” and consummate their decades-long attraction, I’m willing to bet that you’ll find yourself paying closer attention to the film, possibly even choking back a tear or two. And if you’re not a weeping mess by the last twenty minutes, then you’re a stronger person than I. Taking the phrase, “It’s not the destination, it’s the journey,” literally, director David Fincher has deliberately crafted the movie so that we experience Benjamin’s unique existence to the fullest. The result is a film that’s filled with dead spots and dead ends, but also moments of remarkable tenderness and beauty. It’s kinda like life that way.
Bonus Features: After sitting through a nearly three-hour film, the last thing you’ll probably want to do is watch a three-hour making-of documentary about said film. Still, if you’re at all interested in how a big-budget prestige picture like Benjamin Button is put together, block out some time to watch this comprehensive doc, which offers a wealth of fascinating details about the origins of the project (like the fact that Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise were the original director and star attached to the script) and allows the film’s crew to talk in exhaustive detail about the cameras, editing systems and special effects software used to make the movie. All in all, it’s a film student’s wet dream and yet another example of why the Criterion Collection puts out some of the best discs in the business. Additional extras include a commentary track from Fincher and several galleries of storyboards and concept art.
Verdict: Buy It
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Wendy and Lucy
Oscilloscope
$30
Plot: A young drifter’s (Michelle Williams) journey north is disrupted by the loss of her best friend and traveling companion, a lovable dog named Lucy.
Opinion: Writer/director Kelly Reichardt made a big splash with his acclaimed debut film Old Joy a few years back, but I think her sophomore effort is a much stronger movie. Like Old Joy, Wendy and Lucy tells a very small and simple story, but it has an emotional resonance that its predecessor lacked. Clocking in at a brief 80 minutes, this is the cinematic equivalent of a terrific short story. Reichardt never overwhelms the viewer with exposition, keeping the narrative lean and focused. And Williams continues to prove why she’s the only ex-Dawson’s Creek cast member who actually has a shot at winning an Oscar. Forget Marley & Me—this is last year’s best dog-themed three-hanky weepie.
Bonus Features: Apparently a firm believer in allowing her film to speak for itself, Reichardt devotes the disc’s extras to showcasing the work of other filmmakers. So instead of a commentary track or a making-of featurette, viewers can instead check out five short experimental films directed by some of her colleagues at Bard College. With a combined running time of about an hour, these films include a mixed-media piece and two “city symphonies,” featuring vintage footage of Boston and New York.
Verdict: Buy It
Martyrs
Genius Products
$20
Plot: Years after escaping a brutal torture chamber, Lucie tracks down her captors and exacts a brutal revenge. But she and her best friend/accomplice Anna soon discover that her kidnapping was far from ordinary.
Opinion: Most horror fans seem to be flipping for French director Pascal Laugier’s quasi-metaphysical take on the torture porn sub-genre. But I gotta part ways with my fellow fanboys here: Martyrs is a remarkably dumb movie that’s made even dumber by the director’s attempt to link Hostel-style gore with Passion of the Christ-like religious fervor, with a little Flatliners life after death nonesense tossed in. More boring and unconvincing than horrifying and thought-provoking, Martyrs is little more than adolescent nihilism masquerading as profoundity.
Bonus Features: A smug, self-satisfied introduction from Laugier and an hour-long making-of documentary.
Verdict: Skip It
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Also on DVD:
In the grand tradition of Leprechaun in the Hood and Bones, here comes Frankenhood (Lionsgate, $27), a horror comedy about a pair of morgue attendants (DeRay Davis and Jasper Redd) who build a basketball player out of spare body parts in order to win a local hoops tournament. Dustin Hoffman romances Emma Thompson in Last Chance Harvey (Anchor Bay, $30), a geriatric version of Before Sunset only with less wit and charm. Gigantor: The Collection (E1 Entertainment, $40) collects the first 26 episodes of the seminal ’60s-era anime series along with interviews and commentary tracks featuring series writer and director Fred Ladd and anime historian Fred Pattern. Finally, Lipstick Jungle: Season Two (Universal, $30) packages the short-lived sophomore year of Candace Bushnell’s post-Sex and the City series.
