Brad Pitt is a fantastic actor. The coolest actor of our generation, and oh, the guy can damn well act.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Dec 5 2008, 04:29 PM

I saw this yesterday. I wan to let it linger for a few days before making up my mind, but I thought it was a wonderful film.

What do you mean we dont know anything about him? I dont think he was dull. It was not a showy performance, but he did very well as a normal man stuck with an abnormal body. He was a bit cold, and the tone of the film is a little cold, but I think that was deliberate and somehow it works and I really did feel for the characters. When did he yell "you f***ing liars"? I dont think I heard that in the cinema, though I'm positive there were a few minor cuts here and there.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Feb 23 2009, 05:28 PM

I believe this is one of those films that for me I didn't need to ask what kind of person he was, what motivates him to do this and that, etc. It feels natural to me. He was a boy/man who wanted to be normal, and despite the extraordinary circumstances he was put in, acted as best he could to be normal. Apart from his appearance, he was not an extraordinary man. He was like us. Besides, I would expect someone who ages backwards to be pretty passive in real life. The film's tone and Benjamin's demeanor can be cold, and as such the surface of the film feels cold, but once you get through it, the film gets through to you. It's one of those "you-get-it-or-you-dont-get-it" things I suppose. And it certainly clicked with me. People say this would be an ordinary movie with the backwards aging taken out, but I dont evaluate films that way, the same way I dont say "Memento would be an ordinary crime film if it werent told in reverse" or "TDK is only as good as Heath Ledger's performance". I do not take things like that away from the film, because it is part of the film, and to have someone age backwards to me is what makes the film unique and should never be taken out of the equation.

Speaking of other films, I understand some of the comparisons with Forrest Gump, but I don't buy all of it. This feels like a very different film. The exterior is colder, the mood/tone much more sombre, and appropriately it is a more contemplative film that Forrest Gump. My first impression is that this is a film I would want to rewatch when I am 40, again when I am 50, 60, etc.

When he catches up with his age in his forties, and he looks his age, I genuinely felt happy for him, and at the same time, I felt sorry for him... for them... because it wouldn't last. It's heartbreaking that you wait 40 years of you life to reach there and to have it disappear so fast after.


I assume she said that because all his loved ones were the old folks at the house since he was raised there, and they would go before he did. He wasn't surrounded by his peers. His only equal was Daisy. The struck by lightning thingy was just a running gag. Funny for the first few times but probably just about overstayed its welcome. Oh btw to the guys above, the first time he talks about it, two instances of the lightning striking him were shown, maybe you guys missed that and thus only counted six?

This I agree to an extent. It (obviously) didn't ruin the movie for me, but it did spoil some of it. The drastic change in setting and colour was distracting, and it affected the flow (particularly early on), and the old lady's (btw, I read she was played by Blanchett, I wouldn't have known otherwise) voice was grating. Also, and this might be just me, but I didn't find her daughter interesting or of much use except to read the diary. The hospital scenes were by far the weakest in the film.

I wont disagree that he looked emotionless, but I suspect it is in part subtlety and part David Fincher. Fincher's direction, the visuals and the film's tone complemented Pitt's performance very well. How much was it due to subtlety (or not)? I dont know.

I thought it was one of very few films which actually made me think about life and death and impermanence and to cherish what you have now. It might have only made me think of these fleetingly, but a film that accomplishes this at least succeeds in something. I dont know about you, but the seeing someone age backwards is to me very fascinating. I liked that the film didnt de-age Benjamin after each scene; Rather it really takes its time and slowly de-ages him. I liked that. Maybe you didnt think much of the concept, but I totally bought into the (novel) idea.


Actually that is another one of my problems, not that he screwed with many women, but that the film didn't put enough emphasis on the bond between them in the first half of the film, and so when they finally did come together the connection wasn't as strong as it could have been. There was chemistry, and the love was more authentic than the paper-thin Jamal-Latika love in Slumdog, but I think the film needs some scenes with both of them together, whether as children or adults, to really make us feel the bond. in short, I would have liked if they actually started something earlier, rather than so late, in the film.

I dont know why she didnt stop him from leaving. Maybe she felt it was right... I dont know. But it didn't bother me. And it was probably the right thing to do. Leave when she doesnt remember you and hand the responsibilities as a father to someone else before she grows up and remembers him. Hard to do, but probably correct, which makes me feel even sorrier for him.

Parents feel the same way about their children all the time I bet.

Feel free to disagree with me, but the only people he had when he was a child were the old people and adults at the home, and I think he would have felt some love or affection for them.

I liked the gag the first few times. After that it became repetitive. They should have at least made the lightning strike in a more creative manner.

The film was a little too long, in particular I felt the scenes with Tilda Swinton could be cut, but on the whole I wasn't bored.



Neither do I. Which is another reason why I do not like the hospital scenes. It was yet another distraction which took me away from the main story and which served no apparent purpose. Seems to me they wanted the hurricane to have an excuse to have water wash over the clock in the end.

The film isn't perfect... far from it. It isnt a masterpiece. But at the moment I do think it's a great film, at the very least a film with ambition that succeeds in places. Could it have been a better film? For sure, but until someone actually manages to come up with that film, I'm happy with this.

This post has been edited by QuickFire: Feb 23 2009, 08:03 PM