Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Benjamin Button


The Curious Case of Benjamin Button from Even Lin


Tonight I saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button with a friend. Incidentally, I once said that I wanted to start alienating this particular friend for various reasons, but I am glad I never went through with that plan, because we've both grown up. Despite our infrequent get-togethers, I enjoy my time with her and I was pleased to see, today, that we can have mature conversation mixed in with a smattering of laughter. That's really all I need in a friendship, to start.

The film was beautiful but very long (by the 2-hour mark I was wistfully recalling the cautionary words of A, who said that to watch a movie is to invest a considerable amount of time and sometimes mental energy). Because of its beauty, I was distracted from the general theme of death until the very end, by which point I was surprised to have been so blind to the abundance of depressing themes.

To my movie-going companion I bemoaned the fact that the film's enlightening, insightful messages about life were so subtle. They were there, to be sure, but the story seemed so very plot-driven that these poignant insights were skated over and left back in the too-short moments of the story's greatest emotional depth.

Nevertheless, it made me think about time and cherishing life. I have so loved, in the past few weeks, encountering these grand themes in such salient forms; the world seems to be telling me something beautiful.

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