Review – The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
This was my most anticipated movie of 2008 and the movie didn't disappoint. Director David Fincher reunited with Brad Pitt on their third film previously having worked together on Fight Club and Se7en. While these earlier films were grainier and grittier in their approach, their foray into Benjamin Button produced a unique fantasy about one man's life, his experiences and his loves.
The movie is set in New Orleans over a span of 87 years from 1918 to 2005. Daisy (Cate Blanchett) nearing the end of her life is in hospital while her daughter (Julia Ormond) sits by her side to make things as comfortable as possible for her. Regrettably for both of them they have not had a close relationship and Daisy opens up to her telling her the story of Benjamin Button and his life. As keeper of his diary, Daisy asks her daughter to read it to her while she contemplates her life prior to her death.
Narrated throughout by the character of Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt), he introduces himself to the audience. "My name is Benjamin, Benjamin Button, and I was born under unusual circumstances" and thus begins this curious tale. The unusual circumstances to which he refers? He was born prematurely old in a baby's body complete with arthritis, cataracts and possible deafness. His mother died giving birth to Benjamin and due to his "odd" looks his father Thomas (Jason Fleyming) snatches him from the birthing room in order to end his short life. Losing the nerve to kill the baby, he leaves him on the nursing home stairs where Queenie (Taraji Henson) discovers him. After declaring him to be "as ugly as an old pot but you still is a child of god", she takes him in and raises him as her own child in the nursing home. Due to the nature of his "circumstances", opportunistically this turns out to be the best place to raise an "elderly" child. As Benjamin ages throughout the movie he grows more youthful giving a whole new take on not wasting youth on the young.
The film centres around Benjamin and Daisy, the grandaughter of one of the elderly women in the nursing home. They strike up an unusual and very believable friendship as children and this continues throughout their adult lives. They meet at different stages both harbouring feelings towards each other despite their outward differences. It is only when both characters are middle aged that their relationship is able to blossom fully and when she asks him to sleep with her - he doesn't hesitate replying "absolutely". The immaturity of Daisy alongside the maturity of Benjamin as an elderly man is balanced wonderfully well as Daisy ages and Benjamin becomes younger.
The acting in this film is superb. Cate Blanchett plays Daisy from a young woman in her 20s through to old age and manages always to bring a truthfulness to any role she is presented with. The role of Benjamin Button provides Brad with a character that he fully inhabits with great subtlety although I would have liked to have seen more scenes of him inhabiting his youthful body as an old man. Taraji Henson brings the character of Brad's adoptive mother to life with vigour while Tilda Swinton revels in the part of Elizabeth Abbott, Brad's first love.
The screenplay written by Eric Roth (The Good Shepherd, Forrest Gump) created many stand out moments for me. I loved the scene discussing fate and its predetermination in regard to the accident befelling Daisy, reminiscent of the opening same of Magnolia (directed by Paul Thomas Anderson), another one of my favourite films. The scene annoucing that "I didn't know I was a child, I thought I was like everyone else there (the nursing home)" showed a unique tenderness with the handling of the story and the scene announcing Tilda Swinton's character to be "as plain as paper" made me laugh outright.
This film holds many small gems within a beautifully choreographed cinematic experience. A blind clockmaker builds a clock which tells the time in reverse. An old man tells a tale of himself being struck by lightning seven times. Even though these moments play minor parts in the film, it is this quirkiness that makes it an extraordinary film.
(As originally featured on Cinema Voyage)
Mother Who?
It goes without saying that balancing motherhood with family, work and life can be difficult. But motherhood itself in particular can be rewarding, exhilarating, frustrating and stressful and often all on the same day.
Mother Who? is an honest and candid book about a group of diverse mums sharing their frustrations, joys and experiences. It touches upon realistic dilemmas that we all experience in our lives such as child care, employers, social pressures, starting a business, health and relationships all with a toddler or two in tow. And of course the age old tale of “mother guilt”.
This book was very inspirational and as a person who did not take easily to being a mum, I found the refreshingly honest stories somehow made my parenting skills (or lack of) seem quite okay in amongst the mix. There is no right way to parent and Mother Who? relates stories from Kate Cerebrano, Claudia Keech, Naomi Simson and Natasha Stott Despoja all who have their own remarkable and sometimes harrowing stories to tell. But they all have one thing in common - they are mothers who are striving to raise their children in the best possible way their circumstances and situations allow.
Whether you choose to be a working mum, a stay at home mum, or a stay at home working mum there will always be someone who thinks that whatever you are doing may not be the best thing for your child.
Reading this book highlighted the fact that the best thing you can actually do for your child is to live a truthful and honest life and teach them to do the same.
(As originally featured on The Modern Goddess Magazine)
Learning Phonics With Music
Looking around for a fun way to introduce the sounds of the alphabet to my daughter, I stumbled upon the Letterland program which introduces the 26 letters of the alphabet by song.
Each letter of the alphabet is introduced as a character - Annie Apple, Bouncy Ben, Clever Cat - and the sound each character makes is sung to well known nursery tunes which are catchy and fun.
My 3 year old daughter found this to be very enjoyable and within a few days of listening to the cd had learnt all the sounds of the letters.
Also available to purchase was a lovely colourful book, simply entitled ABC, which gave a detailed story about the characters as well as beautifully illustrated pictures listing animals and objects starting with the same letter. A great visual aid for children and also highly recommended on my part.
The program is available to purchase from www.letterland.com (UK) or www.letterland.com.au (Australia).
(As originally featured on Always Learning)
