This Weekend’s Film Festival Contemplates the Curious Case of Aging

I had planned to do this lineup in conjunction with the home entertainment release of THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON for some time. It seems fitting that in the same week Roger Ebert posts a poignant blog entry on mortality. Aging is a curious thing, and each of us handles it in different ways. Certainly circumstance plays a roll in how we will view the closing of our lives, but perspective is very important. "You're only as old as you think you are" is a very true statement… most of the time. In This Weekend's Film Festival, some age differently then others. Some age bitterly. Some forget who they were and don't see who they have become. Some forget about limitations and embrace an innocent love of life. Some simply find a new lease on life when the days are most precious. I hope you enjoy this contemplative and entertaining lineup that contains thrills, thoughts and ends with passion.

THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON is indeed a curious film. It is nothing really like the F. Scott Fitzgerald short story on which it is based. David Fincher, who helmed SE7EN, FIGHT CLUB and ZODIAC, seems like a curious choice as director. Benjamin Button, played in an Oscar nominated performance by Brad Pitt, was born as if his body were that of an old man. His body grew as any child, but he aged in reverse, getting physically younger as the years go by. The people in his life look upon him curiously and he feels like an outcast. Written by FORREST GUMP scribe Eric Roth, the film contains subtle irony as Benjamin has the mind of a boy, but the body of an old man and then the body of a boy and the mind of an old man. Roger Ebert said the whole concept is wrong, because it doesn't make an honest reflection on life. While there are moments where I agree this applies, I found poignancy in the moments where Benjamin's ironic twist of fate highlights the average things in life we take for granted. Take in the idea of a pubescent boy with arthritis and his first sexual experience. Puberty is more powerful than pain. Take in the first love of a late teen who looks to be middle aged having an affair with a middle aged woman. Are they both looking for the ideal love affair — he thinks it’s the way it's always supposed to be and she thinks it's the way it always should have been. Take in the wish fulfillment of an awkward boy who has grow into a handsome man who finally gets the girl he's always wanted. Then take in the bitter irony that he will loose her as he grows younger. Benjamin seems to know the way things are supposed to go and he's all alone in his condition. In the end, life seems to end as it begins. Loved ones taking care of us, because we can't do it ourselves. Underneath BENJAMIN BUTTON has many curious things to say about aging. As I said in my original review, "But the theme that works the best is that you’re never too old to make a change. Like Benjamin, some have a bit more energy to work with. Some are luckier than others. You have to feel for a guy like Benjamin."

There are two primary ways to age — bitterly or gracefully. For This Weekend's Film Festival, the Saturday films take the former while the Sunday films take the latter. Baby Jane Hudson didn't age gracefully at all. In WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE?, Betty Davis creates one of the scenes most memorable villains. Once a child movie star, she has aged into a grotesque crone who bitterly takes care of her crippled sister Blanche (Joan Crawford), who before her accident had become a bigger movie star than Jane. Unfulfilled potential and sibling resentments drive Jane, who begins to slip mentally when she learns her sister wants to move out. Her days have become consumed with tormenting her sister, the one she blames for all her failures in life. Davis' performance is brave. As I said in my original review, "Her Oscar-nominated performance is so true and so real that you forget that you’re watching a screen legend and feel you’re watching a bitter psychopath." Davis did her own dramatic make-up for this film, bringing an outer ugliness to match the character's inner ugliness. As an aging screen star, her dedication to her craft is unmatched here. While Baby Jane might not have aged with grace, Davis showed she had. BABY JANE addresses with how unmet dreams and early success can plague us as we get older, especially when the best days of our lives are now behind us. For Baby Jane Hudson, those resentments are all she has left. If Blanche weren't around, who would be left to blame?

In WILD STRAWBERRIES, the main character is Prof. Isak Borg (Victor Sjöström), a widower who has become a cold recluse. Plagued with dreams of death, he decides to drive to a ceremony at his old university where he will receive an honorary degree. Accompanying him on the trip is his daughter-in-law Marianne (Ingrid Thulin), who doesn't like him very much, because of the negative qualities he shares with her husband, his son Evald (Gunnar Björnstrand). Along the way, Isak reflects on his mistakes and successes in life. A young woman reminds him of his first love. He thinks about God in the woman's two suitors — a parson-in-training and science-based thinker Viktor. In his dreams, Isak mixes memory with fantasy. Out of place elements create an uneasiness in the sequences, capturing Isak's mental state perfectly. People are too critical he thinks, so he stays away from them. But what does that say about him? As I said in my original review, "Director Ingmar Bergman (THE SEVENTH SEAL) weaves in so many of the big issues of life that one could say that is truly the vast theme of the film outside of the themes of aging and lost love." By the end of his journey, Isak too has learned the lesson that you're never too old to change.

If aging has made the characters from Saturday's films recoil from life, the Sunday characters embrace every last day. Paul Cox's INNOCENCE is a joyous celebration of living at any age. Andreas (Charles Tingwell) and Claire (Julia Blake) were lovers when they were 19. They never forgot each other. In their 60s, Andreas is a widower and Claire is married to John (Terry Norris), a man content with ticking off the days until there are no more days to tick off. Andreas and Claire meet and they realize the passion of their youth still exists. The couple throws caution to the wind and embraces his last chance at bliss. But the world doesn't see things as they do. Claire tells her husband of the affair, because she is too old to lie. John thinks she has gone mad and asks their son, a doctor, to look after her. Cox's attention to detail about life and love is remarkable. When you watch a film as honest as this one, so many other films feel like frauds in comparison. As I said in my original review, "The film tackles such themes as love and death with a philosopher’s mind and a child-like spirit that is thought provoking." Getting old doesn't need to be depressing and this films shows us why.

"You're only as old as you think you are" really applies to the closing film, DODSWORTH. Sam Dodsworth (Walter Huston) is an American success story. He built a successful business. He owns a huge house in Texas. He has a young beautiful wife named Fran (Ruth Chatterton). Now he's sold his car company and plans to travel Europe with his wife. Sam is a bit young to be retired, but a bit old to live the party lifestyle that his trendy wife wants to lead. Sam still has a childlike passion for adventure, but Fran isn't into boat rides and ancient ruins. Fran looks at her husband's small town mentality with disgust and likes the advances of younger men. As I said in my original review, "The screenplay based on a Sinclair Lewis novel is extremely well crafted. It’s filled with well-observed and honest moments. It never plays the material too melodramatic, which works really well." Sam Dodsworth is an aging romantic, who gets a dose of reality late in life that he isn't prepared for. He's middle aged without a business in a strange land and with a woman who doesn't love him for him. Seems like a sad tale? But then Edith Cortright (Mary Astor) steps into his life. She embraces his childlike passion and allows him to be himself. Like some of the other films in this week's lineup, DODSWORTH embraces the idea that one should embrace change at any stage in life, because change is the one thing you can count on.

To take this journey head to the local video store, update the Netflix queue, check out Zap2It.com for TV listings or help support the site by buying the films on DVD at the links below.