Grain of Button Salt

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I just heard from two friends who came out of this evening's David Fincher tribute at the Telluride Film Festival. They were mainly calling to share impressions of the 20-minute reel shown from Fincher's The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (Paramount, 12.25), which was shown as part of a two-hour presentation that included a q & a with Fincher.

To my displeasure and irritation, their reactions to the Button footage, and frankly the reactions of others they spoke to as they left the theatre (including a couple of journo-critics and a respected director of an '07 political documentary), were not all that good. Wait...what? This is supposed to have Oscar heat, this thing. Fincher's possible home run, payback for the Zodiac diss, whatever.

My friends had one unqualified positive reaction, which was to the performance by Taraji P. Henson (Hustle and Flow) as Brad Pitt's adoptive mother. But beyond that, the Button footage felt vaguely underwhelming, they said.

It just wasn't particularly exciting or engrossing, one explained. Excellent visual effects (old Pitt as a baby, etc.) and fine cinematography but with a kind of enervated, waiting-for-something-to-happen quality. The footage showed portions of the entire film, the other friend said, but in a way that kept you from getting into it with cuts coming too abruptly. And so people were kind of...whatever, grunting and muttering on the way out.

I didn't like hearing this, of course, because I'm a fan of Eric Roth's script as well as an overall Fincher fan so I started arguing with these two. What were people looking for? I asked. What is it that people wanted to happen? It's just a reel, a taste of a feature film.

They only repeated that whatever it was that the Button reel was trying to sell, they didn't get it or get into it, and some others they've spoken to since it ended feel the same way.

One of them actually said that the Button reel had convinced him that Fincher has "peaked" and that "it's all downhill from here on." Oh, give me an effin' break!

The Fincher tribute footage ran about an hour (or just under an hour) altogether, with 20 minutes for Button and 35 or 40 minutes showing pieces of past Fincher films (Zodiac, Fight Club, Se7en, etc.) The q & a between Fincher and Variety's Todd McCarthy ran another hour, they said.

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Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 29, 2008 at 8:46 PM

comment #1

Mgmax, le Corbeau says ...

Admittedly, a TV spot is nothing to judge a movie by, but that's exactly how I felt about this-- okay, I get the gimmick, but what's it ABOUT? What's the point? Sounds like they're no closing to answering that than I was after the spot.

Posted by Mgmax, le Corbeau at August 29, 2008 9:37 PM

comment #2

karina says ...

Well, I was impressed.
http://blog.spout.com/2008/08/30/the-curious-case-of-benjamin-button-preview-telluride-2008/

Posted by karina at August 29, 2008 11:20 PM

comment #3

D.Z. says ...

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/bbs/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=64710

Mgmax: How can you not get what it's about? It's the Incredible Shrinking Forrest Big Fish with a Tin Drum!

Posted by D.Z. at August 29, 2008 11:31 PM

comment #4

diesel says ...

they are idiots, I say, idiots! not that I've seen it but as Wells says, this was supposed to be his revenge. I refuse to be disappointed by this.

"The q & a between Fincher and Variety's Todd McCarthy ran another hour, they said."

Well? Well? Can someone find a transcript?

Posted by diesel at August 30, 2008 1:12 AM

comment #5

BurmaShave says ...

"It's the Incredible Shrinking Forrest Big Fish with a Tin Drum!"

That is actually pretty hilarious. Maybe it's just the time of night and my state, but I laughed uproariously. Well played.

Posted by BurmaShave at August 30, 2008 1:43 AM

comment #6

Stephe96 says ...

DZ,
That IS really funny!

Posted by Stephe96 at August 30, 2008 8:34 AM

comment #7

broadstreetbully says ...

"To my displeasure and irritation, their reactions to the Button footage, and frankly the reactions of others they spoke to as they left the theatre ..."

To My Displeasure and Irritation: The Jeffrey Wells Story

Posted by broadstreetbully at August 30, 2008 9:40 AM

comment #8

buckzollo says ...

Just left another Fincher tribute and saw the 20 minutes in question. Fincher clearly got wind of this and made special effort to emphasize that what we were about to see was about tone, not complete scenes. Wells you are commiting something akin to tortious interference with this much to do about nothing nothingness. Fincher was open and direct, way down to earth in the session this time opposite Scott Foundas. This whole thing reminds me of when I was kid playing the game telephone.

Posted by buckzollo at August 30, 2008 10:15 AM

comment #9

Richardson says ...

"One of them actually said that the Button reel had convinced him that Fincher has "peaked" and that "it's all downhill from here on." Oh, give me an effin' break!"

Fincher peaked with a little movie called 'Seven' but, to be fair, it hasn't all been downhill since then. He's just never reached that level of quality again. That's the only one where he combined the Fincher-arty side with the Fincher-entertainment side successfully. Since then, his movies have been one or the other [I think 'Fight Club' was trying to be both, maybe].

Posted by Richardson at August 30, 2008 2:24 PM

comment #10

Edward says ...

The only Fincher film that disappointed me was "Panic Room." "Seven" is one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen and it creeped me out so much, I don't think I could ever see it again. "FIght Club" and "Zodiac" were brilliant and I'm really looking forward to "Button."

Posted by Edward at August 30, 2008 2:52 PM

comment #11

Craig Kennedy says ...

Who judges a movie based on 20 minutes?

Posted by Craig Kennedy at August 30, 2008 4:04 PM

comment #12

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comment #13

Richardson says ...

CJ - shouldn't the question be, "Who judges a movie based on a 20 minute promotional clip intended to drum up interest in the movie?"

I mean, it's not like this is a stolen reel posted on Youtube; this is something they're showing people as promotion for the movie. Presumably, Fincher was involved in the clip reel, and chose what he felt would intrigue and entrance the audience.

Posted by Richardson at August 30, 2008 5:53 PM

comment #14

/3rtfu11 says ...

best supporting actress nomination

Posted by /3rtfu11 at August 31, 2008 8:36 PM

comment #15

roman says ...

Fincher will never win an Academy Award. He's all style. Another Ridley Scott.

Posted by roman at September 2, 2008 4:44 PM

comment #16

YRG says ...

It's all downhill from here... reminds me of Soderbergh's Oscar acceptance speech for Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

As for the clip reel, it sounds like Fincher and the editors are too close to it. I saw the Cannes "Synecdoche" clips and saw the beauty immediately, but only got it because I read the script. Friends I showed it to didn't get it. I'm assuming the same is true of Benjamin Button... if you know the story and read the script, the 20 minute preview becomes more powerful. Without that knowledge, it's just a collection of random, disconnected scenes. It was probably just poorly edited in a rush to shop around, when they might have done better with just a 10 minute version. Of course, this is all conjecture on my part.

Posted by YRG at September 3, 2008 10:11 AM

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