http://www.canada.com/Ent...ent/story.html?id=1092171
Pleasant dreams!!!!!
Brad Pitt has a big problem, and until The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made it obvious, the sex symbol's persistent plague was simply written off as the pretty-boy curse.
Pitt is too good looking to be a believable dramatic lead, went the reasoning. We're constantly distracted from the meat and bones of his performances because we get lost in his blue eyes and massive musculature.
But the real obstacle to Pitt's rise as a powerful dramatic lead has less to do with his looks than with his comfort level on camera. Ever since his breakthrough appearance in Thelma and Louise, Pitt has never really looked like he was acting -- he was just a handsome devil being his handsome-devil self, an idea that's easy to affirm when he plays such characters as Jesse James or Mr. Smith.
Yet there's a lot going on behind the blue eyes and Midwestern manliness, and for the first time in his impressive but unlaurelled career Pitt is given a chance to transcend his natural good looks and onscreen comfort zone in the bizarre form of Benjamin Button.
With so many gears and cogs moving in opposite directions, it's a wonder the movie doesn't self-destruct. If anything, it does the opposite and all credit for Fincher's success goes to Pitt, who single-handedly carries this weighty burden and cradles it to the finish line.
Pitt's previously problematic comfort level pulls us in. He's easy to watch, whether he's a wrinkled old man or a smooth-faced heartbreaker. Moreover, he's empathetic without being manipulative.
Benjamin simply is, and by surrendering to this character without an agenda, Pitt becomes the transparent lens through which we experience the world.
Pleasant dreams!!!!!
Review: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Brad Pitt has a big problem, and until The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made it obvious, the sex symbol's persistent plague was simply written off as the pretty-boy curse.
Pitt is too good looking to be a believable dramatic lead, went the reasoning. We're constantly distracted from the meat and bones of his performances because we get lost in his blue eyes and massive musculature.
But the real obstacle to Pitt's rise as a powerful dramatic lead has less to do with his looks than with his comfort level on camera. Ever since his breakthrough appearance in Thelma and Louise, Pitt has never really looked like he was acting -- he was just a handsome devil being his handsome-devil self, an idea that's easy to affirm when he plays such characters as Jesse James or Mr. Smith.
Yet there's a lot going on behind the blue eyes and Midwestern manliness, and for the first time in his impressive but unlaurelled career Pitt is given a chance to transcend his natural good looks and onscreen comfort zone in the bizarre form of Benjamin Button.
With so many gears and cogs moving in opposite directions, it's a wonder the movie doesn't self-destruct. If anything, it does the opposite and all credit for Fincher's success goes to Pitt, who single-handedly carries this weighty burden and cradles it to the finish line.
Pitt's previously problematic comfort level pulls us in. He's easy to watch, whether he's a wrinkled old man or a smooth-faced heartbreaker. Moreover, he's empathetic without being manipulative.
Benjamin simply is, and by surrendering to this character without an agenda, Pitt becomes the transparent lens through which we experience the world.
