comment #1

actionman says ...

The Game is so underrated. Love that film.

comment #2

Chase Kahn says ...

I sensed this to during Fincher/Pitt's Charlie Rose interview -- he didn't really seem to have an answer to what he felt the film was about, what it was trying to say.

comment #3

Vince Keenan says ...

David Carr's recap of the same event is more interesting, and he made note of the Fincher quote that does the best job I've heard yet of summing up Button: "I was trying to illustrate that youth is not wasted on the young."

comment #4

DarthCorleone says ...

Fincher said at one point that Button was making the case that a life lived naturally -- babyhood first, old age last -- was the best way to go, even with all the pain and suffering and heartbreak.

The "best" way to go? What alternative do any of us have? How is that a message?

comment #5

Sabina E says ...

The whole point of Benjamin Button is that there are no answers for the meaning of life.

Comprende????

comment #6

rgmax99 says ...

The Game is a good film until Douglas falls off the building -- such a silly and completely impossible resolution. No WAY Penn could have pulled that off...

It's always irritated me. Harrumph!

comment #7

erniesouchak says ...

The movie is crap. He made it because he wants an Oscar.

comment #8

Mr. Gittes says ...

Has Ness received the green light?

comment #9

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Man, I'd really like to see the Finch tackle Rendezvous with Rama...I think he's ready for it now. I really don't want to overhype the concept, but with him at the helm it truly *could be* this generation's 2001:ASO.

comment #10

/3rtfu11 says ...

I hope people take this to mean he's nothing more than a visual autuer only.

comment #11

Josh Massey says ...

"The Game is a good film until Douglas falls off the building -- such a silly and completely impossible resolution."

Thank you. Amen. I've always thought it was a great film until right then, when Penn somehow made Douglas want to commit suicide and somehow want to jump off the correct side of the building.

comment #12

/3rtfu11 says ...

I hope people take this to mean he's nothing more than a visual auteur only.

comment #13

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Oh, c'mon..The Game was a total mindfuck movie. To complain that it was believable until Douglas jumps off a certain side of a building is pretty laughable.

The movie is about as implausible as it gets, every step of the way. I think you either go with it all the way and it's brilliant, or it strains your credibility within the first ten minutes and you despise it. I'm definitely in the former camp, but then again I am a slut for Fincher.

comment #14

arturobandini2 says ...

I dunno, CK4CG. I went with The Game all the way up until the rooftop climax and then just sat there shaking my head. How did a big-budget prestige project with such an implausible ending get a green light to start with? I assumed the shooting script had a different ending, and what we saw was studio-mandated reshoot.

People complain about the headscratcher ending of I've Loved You So Long, but at last the main actor made it work in terms of character. But leaping off a skyscraper under duress and just happening to land smack-dab-center on a tiny airbag 50 floors below was too absurd. Even more preposterous, what kind of asshole gives his brother the gift of wanting to commit suicide? Certainly not the kind you'd embrace afterward. The only thing Fincher got right in that movie, in my opinion, was casting the enigmatic Deborah Unger, whose part ultimately made no sense anyway.

comment #15

T. S. Idiot says ...

All the people whining about BUTTON seem to forget it's based on something by FSF. All of Fitzgerald is about the impossibility of finding lasting love, the illusions of happiness, etc. Same for the best 2008 film I've seen. Even fanboys lucky to find dates with their fists should be able to grasp this.

comment #16

Jonah says ...

"I hope people take this to mean he's nothing more than a visual autuer only."

This sentence is worded awkwardly. Are you saying Fincher is a visual filmmaker and nothing more? If so, you're a fool.

comment #17

Bilge says ...

The idea of living life in a natural progression isn't necessarily profound, but the reason Fincher might have mentioned it is because it's the film's main thematic divergence from FSF's story. Fitzgerald actually thought that living life backwards gave BB all sorts of wisdom ordinarily mortals didn't have. The film feels like it's in direct opposition to that.

comment #18

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Arturo -- There's a bit of dissonance when you say you were "with The Game until the rooftop climax," then later say Deborah Unger was "the only thing Fincher got right in that movie." You seem to be saying only one thing didn't work, then you circled around and said only one thing DID work. Don't quite follow. And anyone who was truly disappointed with that ending doesn't truly understand the "mindfuck" genre. In the end, the audience is supposed to feel suckered just as much as M. Douglas was.

But yes -- Unger was fantastic, a shame we didn't see more of her on film. Something very sexy about that woman

comment #19

arturobandini2 says ...

CK you're quite right. I just noticed it after reading your comment. Let me re-phrase that to say everything Fincher was doing felt right up to that point, then suddenly felt like a cheat; I was braced for an ending as logical and disturbing as the one in Seven and didn't expect the sharp left turn into whimsy. I felt the same way when Fight Club skidded off the rails of logic in its third act.

However, Unger's opaque otherworldliness, her sultry poker face, was a brave and choice piece of casting. She was a cult star at best and a far cry from the It girl of the day, Gwyneth Paltrow. Unger made the loopy twists just plausible enough to buy ... up until the roof. Her last scene with Douglas just screamed "reshoot," as neither actor appeared to believe the words coming out of their mouths.

Now, eXistenZ, that's an underrated gem of the mindfuck genre. When the lights came up at the end of that movie, everybody in the theater (all 3 of us as I recall) looked at each and started laughing. That was a doozy you just didn't see coming, but was completely logical in hindsight. Too bad it opened the same week as The Matrix. They're essentially the same movie.

comment #20

Circumvrent says ...

Making a film about how life is best live from babyhood to old age is like making a film about how breathing oxygen is much healthier than breathing carbon monoxide.

comment #21

actionman says ...

The Game represents a suicide intervention for Douglas' character. The ending makes total sense in the realm of its completely implausible story. I love that film. Have watched it probably 20 times over the years. It's just so fucking cool.

comment #22

DarthCorleone says ...

Who here commenting on the Fitzgerald story has actually read it? I did, and y'all are really grasping with these comparisons and interpretations.

Fitzgerald's version of Button didn't have any extra wisdom at the particular points in his life - quite the contrary. Yes, he starts out with the relative wisdom of an old man, but he regresses mentally and emotionally, essentially losing wisdom. That's an implausible conceit to begin with, and in contrast Fincher only gives his Benjamin the physical anomaly. (Both have their narrative potential in my opinion.)

For example, in Fitzgerald's version, there's a bit about his father trying to force him to appreciate the toys and activities that usual five-year-olds appreciate, and Benjamin is bored with it. Later, when Benjamin reaches the appearance of a five-year-old, he is actually enthralled by those same activities.

As for this fanboy and his "date with his fist", I indeed have no problems understanding these themes you're talking about. But what do they have to do with the central conceit of aging backward in the film, and how is that conceit used to illustrate that in a way that any story in which the character ages forward couldn't have illustrated?

comment #23

CitizenKanedforChewingGum says ...

Ah, I see where you're coming from, arturo. As much as I love Fight Club, I also have some serious reservations about the last act (mainly the "twist," which seems damn near impossible to pull off effectively in the cinema, but perfect for literature). To me, the ending of The Game is as perfect as Seven (in a more ironic and whimsical way than dramatic and horrifying) and totally fitting with the rest of the movie. I know I'm in the minority on that opinion; hell, I also think the ending of Psycho is perfect for damn near identical reasons.

Nice shout-out on eXistenZ, you're right about it getting lost in the Matrix shuffle. I'm also quite fond of Dark City, which came out a year earlier, and had similar themes, styles, influences, special fx, soundtrack, etc. Always puzzled me how that film didn't get more credit. It was arguably more visionary, plus everyone involved had the good sense (more likely, the low box office receipts) to leave well enough alone with the sequel-itis.

comment #24

YRG says ...

I read the Fitzgerald story and it seemed freer and funnier than the film. It read like a one off that F. Scott didn't put too much thought into, closer in spirit to the lists and notes published in the Crack Up than the serious drama of the Beautiful and the Damned. I read the script for Button before it came out and loved the first trailer, but the film was too long and the technical marvel of Benjamin's backwards aging took me out of the film. It might have worked better with an unknown, as I found myself waiting to see what Brad Pitt would look like next, if they would pull it off and he would look young. Fincher is one of my favorite directors, but he's more of a technician. The film didn't press enough emotional buttons for me by the end.

comment #25

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