I finally got around to watching all 5 Best Picture nominees from this years Academy Awards: Frost/Nixon, The Reader, Milk, Slumdong Millionaire and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  While I’m not convinced these were the best five films of 2008, they all were interesting, well made films.  But of these 5, two really stand out as being something special.  Frost/Nixon is an intriguing look at 2 starkly different men told competently by Ron Howard.  Milk, as we’ve discussed in a previous blog, is a very good movie and one that I recommend. And Slumdog is…different.  I suppose it is an attempt to bring Bollywood sensibilities to western Cinema.  I didn’t find the plot to be that engaging, but the backdrop of the Indian way of life was both beautiful and repugnant. But the movie itself is kind of a let down.  Then, we have two films that really moved me: The Reader and Benjamin Button.
    The thing that strikes me about both of these films is that they tackle perhaps the most troublesome concept we humans struggle with on a daily basis; they each take drastically different approaches at looking at love.  Specifically, difficult love.  The Reader tells the story of a young German teen named Michael living in the post-war 1950’s.  We also see him as a successful lawyer in the 1990’s. (The Elder Michael is played perfectly by Ralph Fiennes) In the 50’s, Michael encounters a beautiful, if stern, woman named Hannah (played by the magnetic Kate Winslet) who helps care for him while he is ill.  Their relationship quickly turns romantic and the two become lovers.  Michael ignores family and friends, spending all his time with Hannah.  When not in the throws of passion, Hanna asks him to read to her.  It becomes evident that she is uneducated and enjoys listening to the books Michael is studying at school.
    Their relationship comes to an abrupt end when Hannah vanishes without a trace.  Michael, heartbroken, attempts to return to his normal life as a teenager.  The film then cuts a few years into the future, where Michael is a promising law student.  His professor takes Michael and his classmates to a trial where five women are accused of mass murder, acting as SS agents in WWII.  To his shock and horror, Michael recognizes one of the five as his beloved Hannah.  This is where the film shines, forcing the audience to endure Michael’s pain and confusion.  This woman, whom he loved more truly than most of us will ever know, is in fact a killer.  While on the stand, Hannah admits to taking part in the killing of over a hundred Jewish women and children.  When survivors of the camps testify, they remember Hannah asking them to read to her.  This, of course, sends Michael into an abyss of pain and anguish. And this is just the first half of the film!
    I’ll not spoil what happens next, but The Reader is one of the few films I’ve seen this year that has really stuck with me.  It’s been weeks since I popped the disc into my DVD player, and yet the power of that film still resonates.  I’ve been mulling over Michael’s decisions in the film, questioning if it is possible to love a monster.  Can you forgive the unforgivable?  Could I? Are there really mitigating circumstances to allowing 100 women and children to be burned to death in a barricaded church?  I LOVE movies like this; films that leave the audience asking questions and taking stock of their own lives. (That’s not to say all films that leave the audience with questions.  Some are just riddled with plot holes. Those annoy me!) The Reader is grim and harsh and at times difficult.  It is a rare and dying breed in modern cinema today, a movie for adults.  Not that it’s overtly violent or sexual (though there is A LOT of sex here, so be for warned) but the topics and themes discussed are difficult and it takes a mature mind to comprehend and appreciate what is happening.  I loved this movie. It’s brave and unapologetic, dark and thought provoking.  It is an important piece that should be lauded as on of the best films of the decade.
    Benjamin Button also looks at love though an unlikely prism.  Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett are the two leads, staring as lovers who enter and exit each others lives over 70 years.  Benjamin, however, is aging in reverse. Born an old man, he constantly de-ages as the rest of the world becomes older.  This obviously becomes difficult, creating problems for Benjamin and the love of his life, Daisy.  The plot is a bit predictable, but the journey is wondrous.  The aging and de-aging of both Brad and Cate is  a technical marvel. The backdrop of New Orleans is stunning. Great costumes, great music and great production design. All in all, a great movie.
Watching  Benjamin Button is something of an emotional marathon. The highs are great peaks just as the lows are cavernous trenches.  I hated Benjamin for leaving just as I hated Daisy for rejecting his affections.  I laughed at this little boy who looked like a great grandfather and I cried when Daisy cares for him in his final days.  You shouldn’t go into Benjamin Button looking for reality. It is a fantasy, a fable; Even a modern day fairy tale.  It’s a sweeping epic and an intimate love story.  It’s timeless and heartwarming.  After watching it, I wanted to hug my wife and kid.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a beautiful film and one that I would suggest you watch.

Well, that’s going to be it for this time.  My wife bought me a PS3 for my birthday, so I am now in the market for Blu-ray discs. Hopefully next time, we can talk about the wonder that is high definition movies!  Until then, that’s a wrap from The Director’s Chair!