Benjamin Button

I watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button last night. I didn't love it for the same reasons I didn't love Forrest Gump. It felt contrived and forced in too many places. But it sure pulled at my heartstrings. I was a basketcase by the end of it. And, unlike my mediocre reaction to Tom Hanks, I find it hard to look away when Brad Pitt's filling the screen - especially in scenes where he looks just like he did in A River Runs Through It.

Life and death as on-going and inevitable was beaten into us in the film. But I was hit by a few other themes, particularly the difficulty with being different, not fitting. Yet Benjamin actually did find a niche here and there - he managed to find a few groups of people that he fit with.

And I liked the ideas around love - how it's possible to be accepting that the time just isn't right and the people we love might be with other people until we're really to connect completely. And that even if we're in love, it's not always the best choice of housemate. Sometimes practical issues do get in the way of emotional bonds.

And I like the little bit on the randomness of life. Little things happen all the time that affect everything else, and we have no control over all these little things that end up changing our world in myriad ways. It's all a crap shoot. Well, of course there are choices we're able to make to blaze the trail in a better direction, but those choices aren't the only thing creating the path we walk. And sometimes they're barely even significant.