With the Oscars just a few days away, I wanted to write about a film that was on many top ten lists for 2008 and was nominated for the most Oscars (13) this year…The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I’m having a difficult time truly understanding why this film has been quite as acclaimed as it has. If you read my Top Films of 2008, you saw that it made the top 20 (#19) so I do not hate or dislike the movie in any way, I’m just confused how it is considered better than so many other films released in 2008 (among many lists it was rated above Slumdog Millionaire, Gran Torino, Milk, and The Dark Knight to name a few). I’m going to make a case as to why I feel it is not the masterpiece that some feel, but to do this first I feel we need to go back and view the career of the director, David Fincher. Fincher is by far one of the best directors working today, he is known as a director that takes chances and isn’t afraid to make people think about his films during them and after viewing…but in my opinion forgot all that and he played it safe with Benjamin Button. He catered to the boring, traditional aspects of Hollywood hoping for this to be his shot at an Academy Award, and in the process put aside everything that got him there. Before we go further with this, let’s look at Fincher’s previous directorial efforts. These will contain spoilers to the films so if you haven’t seen them, YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
ALIEN 3 (1992)
In the early 90’s there was a channel called MTV and they played these mini-movies with music called music videos, if you remember them. The hottest music video director at the time was David Fincher. He directed videos for Madonna (Vogue, Express Yourself), George Michael (Freedom ’90), and Paula Abdul (Straight Up) among others. 20th Century Fox had the Alien franchise on their shelf which they weren’t doing anything with since the hugely successful Aliens. Despite rumors of an Alien .vs. Predator movie they decided to do an Alien stand alone film to reboot the franchise. They tapped David Fincher to be the director as he was young and talented (i.e. cheap). Fincher went into the film wanting to make a scary, creepy movie more like the first Alien as opposed to the action vehicle that Aliens was. From the get go Fincher fought with the studio over script and budget issues. He continued to make his vision the best that he could…to take away Sigourney Weaver’s sex appeal from the first two he had her character Ripley have her head shaved due to the prison planet she crash lands on…and in a shocking ending to the film Fincher has Ripley sacrifice herself to keep the alien inside her from going free…he effectively looked to kill off the franchise. The film was not well received by critics and the hardcore Alien fans hated the film. What exactly is the final cut of the film? There is a director’s cut on DVD but there is also talk that Fincher cut many story lines that 20th Century Fox wanted in the film. Fincher had such an unpleasant experience directing Alien 3 that he has disassociated himself from the film. The young rebel with a vision was born.
SEVEN (1995)
Fincher’s next film was the story of two detectives tracking down a serial killer who bases his killings on the seven deadly sins. Fincher was given a little money and it started two up and coming young actors (Brad Pitt and Gwyneth Paltrow) and two solid actors who usually have supporting parts (Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey). Seven was a taut, gritty thriller which made a star out of Brad Pitt and has one of the most shocking scenes in film history (What’s in the box!!!???). Fincher pushed for this head in the box scene knowing how shocking it would be and how important it was to lead to Pitt’s character crossing the edge. The studio refused to allow filming of the scene, and it wasn’t until Brad Pitt stood by Fincher and refused to do anything else with the film until the studio allowed the filming of the scene. Seven was a critical and box office success and the first (and only until Benjamin Button) $100 million dollar grossing film for Fincher. No one remembered Alien 3 anymore.
THE GAME (1997)
Fincher followed up Seven with the unusual film The Game starring Michael Douglas as a man who gets an unusual birthday present from his brother (Sean Penn). The entire film was a risk for Fincher as we are left asking the entire movie, is this really a role playing game that Douglas is involved in or is it all real. The film didn’t do very well at the box office, but also did nothing to hurt Fincher’s career.
FIGHT CLUB (1999)
What can be Fincher’s masterpiece and biggest film risk, Fight Club is a trippy film about two(?) men who open up a secret, underground fight club as a cathartic way for men to release their emotions and problems. The film was one of the most publicized of 1999 and ended up a box office disappointment. Many critics and viewers didn’t understand or didn’t want to understand the main points of the film. Many critics who initially gave the film a negative review, on repeated viewings changed their minds and added it to their Best of 1999 lists. While Seven has the head in the box, Fight Club’s big dramatic twist was the revelation that Brad Pitt and Edward Norton were the same person. Fincher was now starting to be known for the originality and unpredictability of his films. Fight Club is a bona fide cult classic and has been discovered by many people on DVD. The film currently ranks #21 in the IMDB Top 250.
PANIC ROOM (2002)
Panic Room was next for David Fincher and became his second biggest hit to date after Seven. Jodie Foster is a mother who locks herself in her house’s panic room with her daughter when the house is invaded by three criminals. The cool thing that Fincher does with this film is that it is very claustrophobic…all the action is done within the confines of this small room and the house. He creates great tension and drama within this small space.
ZODIAC (2007)
With Zodiac Fincher didn’t need twists or shocks, what he used was solid filmmaking and created a mystery about the search for the serial killer known as the Zodiac who terrorized San Francisco in the 1970’s. Fincher does a fantastic job of involving the viewer in the search through the reporters and cops that are hunting for the Zodiac. Before Benjamin Button, this film was Fincher’s most main stream to date. If any Fincher film should have been nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, it is this one. This is solid filmmaking with great performances from the entire cast. I ranked this film #5 on my Top Films of 2007.
THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON (2008)
Zodiac had everything going for it that Oscar likes…critical praise (only No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood were on more top ten lists for 2007), strong acting performances, strong directing, a studio that pushed very hard for it to be nominated…but was ignored by the Academy. Perhaps it was all this that drove David Fincher to Benjamin Button. Did Fincher say to himself, “I did it my way and was ignored, I’ll make a movie that the Academy always likes.” If you look at all the previous films that he made…one thing remains the same…David Fincher took risks. Whether it was killing off a popular character, decapitating one of the stars of the movie, or tricking the audience with two characters actually being one person, he kept people guessing. For whatever reason Fincher decided to give the Academy what it wants. If you’ve seen the video or read the article…Benjamin Button resembles Forrest Gump in many ways (both films are from the same screenwriter). Fincher took a film about a nice person born under unusual circumstances, surrounded him with interesting supporting characters, involved him in historical situations, and had him love then lose and then love again…a tried and true formula. But instead of giving us the “Fincher Twist” or anything shocking the film plays and ends exactly how we expected it would. There are so many things that could have been shown and done but Fincher played it safe…instead of going into details about Pitt’s world travels we are shown snippets…why could we not have seen more of that instead of Pitt and Cate Blanchett painting their apartment for 30 minutes?
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a nice film there is no debating that…however when comparing to Fincher’s previous work we can see how it pales in comparison. David Fincher is still one of the best directors working today and my hope is that he goes back to the original, twist making, mind bending genius that he is. Ironically, the year that David Fincher decided to play it safe with Benjamin Button…the most original film of the year Slumdog Millionaire, a film where it’s story develops through twists and turns, will probably win Best Picture.
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