by Jamie Clubb

Created on: January 29, 2010   Last Updated: January 30, 2010

The Curious Case of 2009's Oscar Misfire

It was a real surprise to see that this film won none of the major Oscar categories in 2009. I say surprise not necessarily because I think this film deserved them, but because it seems be exactly the sort of film that normally gets the Hollywood gongs. In fact, I have read reviews online where it is assumed the film did get the Academy Award gold it seemed destined to receive. However, more on that later.

"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" is a 2009 drama/fantasy feature film starring Brad Pitt in the titular role and co-starring Cate Blanchett as Daisy. It tells the story of a dying woman in a New Orleans hospital who insists that her daughter reads to her the complete diary of a one Benjamin Button. This happens as reports come in of a powerful hurricane that is on its way to New Orleans. Button's birth occurred on the day the First World War finished and corresponded with the unveiling of a clock made for the New Orleans railway station. The clock was made by a blind man whose son was killed during the war. He intentionally made the clock to run backwards in hope that this could somehow turn the time back and bring his son back. It fails to do this, but in what seems to be a weird coincidence Benjamin Button is born with all the physical characteristics of a man aged 85. As the story progresses we discover that Button is aging backwards and he met dying woman when they were children - or at least when he was a child with an old man's body. They become the love of each other's lives, but different events and choices lead them down different paths throughout their lives.

As far as loose adaptations go, the motion picture "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" resembles its 1922 original short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald in only three ways. It has the same title, the main protagonist bears the same name and both are about a man who ages backwards. That's about it. However, before we launch into tirades about spoiling art and ruining an author's vision, I think there should be some understanding of the "production hell" this film has been through ever since the film rights were first acquired by Ray Stark in the 1980s. During the time Stark held rights, which he did until his death in 2004; Frank Oz, Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard all made efforts to get the story onto the big screen without success.

The simple yet fantastical premise is something that you can imagine the likes of Oz, Spielberg and Howard being

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