The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

(USA, 2008, 166 minutes)

In 1918 New Orleans, as WWI ends, a child is born with the appearance of an 80-year old man, and over the century he ages in reverse, becoming younger with every year that goes by. Epic melodrama that suffers from serious miscasting and uninspired plotting (bowdlerizing the original source story) but somehow transcends its flaws to become a thorougly involving, impeccably presented old-fashioned romantic tearjerker.

Warner Bros. Pictures and Paramount Pictures present a Kennedy/Marshall Company production. Starring Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett; Taraji P. Henson, Julia Ormond, Jason Flemyng, Mahershalalhashbaz Ali, Jared Harris, Elias Koteas, Phyllis Somerville; and Tilda Swinton. Directed by David Fincher; produced by Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Ceán Chaffin; screenplay by Eric Roth, based on a story by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, and on the short story «The Curious Case of Benjamin Button» by F. Scott Fitzgerald; music by Alexandre Desplat; director of photography (DeLuxe/Technicolor prints, widescreen), Claudio Miranda; production designer, Donald Graham Burt; costume designer, Jacqueline West; film editors, Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall; special make-up effects by Greg Cannom.