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(,‘t Witt}; K Alll’l‘ its. 1"th ’i k’i -__7 _7 tl‘itl‘l llt' km r.'.'%; "in l ' lli'.'. ..i MYSTERY/ROMANCE «:iiwiui :u-ltr-i tint! ll . 'ir'. THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAM'N pays mournful tribute to the dead of WWI, a funny min l.:.t'l, t'ii- “Hill, . ; l 1‘.- BUTTON running gag about an old man being hit by lightning . ltt‘l‘, xiii" ti. l l." , ~ ll 1 (12A) 165min 0.0 and an intricately worked sequence describing the l mu ~ inimi.‘ : r. > -. t' .ii l‘ many fateful collisions that conspire to put Daisy's illillllrl‘ilill w: littl'ft'i r m: .t, l " l ..:v: What would it be like to live in reverse? Born as an old ballet career on hold. But a framing story featuring W ‘i( if; illl' ‘.l‘1" 'r f. tl’ w ° man only to die as an infant, the Benjamin Button Daisy’s daughter Caroline (Julia Ormond) fails to Tiil:l.t'ir ,lir _ ,, t:.~ film .. ~ rat character created by F Scott Fitzgerald in his 1922 locate the heart of the story, and Benjamin Button’s (“haw it» in .a' ‘lt if W if m. a t« iii. short-story gets the full ‘prestige picture’ treatment in conclusion is inevitably something of a bummer; only T'H‘ :it,'l')f:‘.‘, f .'.’.".Jl .l i. u w. David Fincher’s lavish romantic fantasy. a director as contrary as Fincher could create a $200 ‘3l.‘( 4 if at .i t» am) it ,. .f .i w ‘ln iii The opening flourish, in which the Warner Brothers million extravaganza which winds up waterlogged in sign». , ii,- , ll‘. 1. in: , -' l i" ll , 2 and Paramount studio logos assemble themselves from mortality. Trifrt‘.t!!','fl m”. l,'ll( .fr. ~2‘ r , ' a shower of computer-generated buttons, sets the tone Adding in extraneous scenes featuring a young boy ;)ll:.'ll r, fiw -t- W a l , (x i for an extravagant, technically brilliant but also rather casting off his crutches, or leaving home to join a tug- [‘3t1.'.,l,’ll rm 1‘, in in t’ ,t 'lT“ i: l- i' heartless evocation of Button’s backwards life. boat crew, writer Eric Roth attempts to inject a little viigirix, .1 Hit it 1m: w“ A! t ft "x ° i flu. Unceremoniously dumped by his father Thomas (Jason warm treacle from his own Forrest Gump style [in >1 mi ,n ii. m i); it, i i. ii“ Flemyng), Button (Brad Pitt) is adopted by a poor template, but the regular repetition of the phrase ‘You I (it w ml *ll' l'M’ t’l' l , ‘ ~, l Southern family who raise him as a child despite his never know what’s coming for you’ annoyingly reduces aged appearance. Growing into middle age while the moral of Fitzgerald’s unsentimental fable to a pat experiencing the pains of puberty, Button leaves home ‘life is a box of chocolates’ homily. for some WWII adventures including a sexual education Yet despite such lapses, Benjamin Button is still with Brit Elizabeth (Tilda Swinton), only to rekindle his highly rewarding fare for romantics of all ages; like romance with childhood sweetheart Daisy (Cate Fitzgerald’s most famous character, The Great Gatsby, Blanchett). it’s a salutary tale of a man who would turn back time Button’s thoughtful consideration of the for love, and fails, reflecting Fitzgerald’s own views of impermanence of love allows Fincher to create a the impermanence of love in vibrant flashes of range of dazzling set-pieces, including a poignant Fincher’s cinematic imagination. (Eddie Harrison)
foreword about a stopped railway-station clock which I General release from Fri (5 Feb.
WESTERN/ACTION THE GOOD THE BAD THE WEIRD (1$)130min ecu , .
Gifted South Korean filmmaker Kim Ji-woon takes on Sergio Leone's greatest western and (unbelievably) emerges victorious. It's the 19305 in the desert wilderness of Japanese colonised Chinese Manchuria and three treasure hunters are in a race for booty. Hardcore hitman Park Chang-i (Korean superstar Lee Byung-hun, their equivalent of Johnny Depp) is in it for the glory. money and ' ,. violence. bounty hunter Park Do-won (Jung Woo-sung) wants the money and to a; do the right thing and Yoon Tae-goo (Song Kang-ho) is the lucky rapscallion who found the map first. All hell is unleashed along the way; it is an adventure that pulls in the army, Manchurian bandits and the inhabitants of a mysterious ghost market. Allowing himself to be inspired by but never overpowered by the iconography of Leone's celebrated epic western, Kim Ji-woon, whose previous films include A Tale of Two Sisters and A Bittersweet Life, has made an incredibly enjoyable adventure film. If you want to know how to make a modern western. this is how. ‘ Utilising a few techniques from the wuxia films of the 19605 while keeping things high octane enough for a modern audience with some absolutely Jaw-dropping action set pieces. this really is a joy. Gripping, funny, entertaining wrth never a dull moment, 7779 Good The Bad The Weird is more fun than a barrel of spaghetti — or snakes. (Paul Dale) I Selected release from Fn' 6 Feb. k
44 THE LIST 5—19 Feb 2009