Critical Review
"The Curious Case of Benjamin Button"

INTRO	PLOT 1	PLOT 2	DIRECTOR & ACTOR	ABOUT MY SONG

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This clock metaphor ticking in the guts of the story makes no sense. None of the rest of the characters question Benjain's reverse aging process. The screenplay says this:

SCENE 12

Everyone cheers... until they realize the clock is going the wrong
way... traveling backwards in time... A man shouts, “It’s
running backwards!”

MONSIEUR GATEAU
I made it this way... so that
perhaps, the boys who were lost in
the war might stand and go home
again...

Queenie's church revival, New Orleans 1926. Scene 41.

Benjamin's new friend Nugunda Oti, takes him on a wonderful streetcar trip 1927 Scene 51

We attempt to apply the story arc theory--"If this scene was removed, would it be missed?"

What information or life advice do these characters impart to Benjamin? Nothing appears to spur a life change, or indicate an acting choice made by Brad Pitt.

I'm worried about the portrayal of the zany and colorful charcters. What purpose do they serve? I am convinced the decision to use New Orleans for the location shoot --rather than Baltimore--and changing the era from 1860--drove the casting decisions.

NGUNDA OTI
You’ll see little man, plenty
times you be alone. You different
like us, it’s gonna be that way.
But I tell you a little secret I
find out. We know we alone. Fat
people, skinny people, tall
people, white people... they just
as alone as us... But they scared
shitless...

(He smiles a knowing smile...)

NGUNDA OTI (CONT’D)
Not a thing wrong with being
alone... no sir...