On the heels of a new year with hopes for a more prosperous, less chaotic tomorrow, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button debuts with a timely and sobering declaration: “You never know what’s coming to you.”

…bummer. So whether we brave the recession storm to see our 401k’s intact, whether our facebooking efforts successfully manage to adjust our identities as they appear to others, or whether we blanket our emptiness with credit card purchases collecting more stuff to fill the void, there will come a point where we cannot control the life, the ambitions, the relationships, or the bank accounts we’ve worked so hard to maintain.

And that’s where the tale of Benjamin Button begins, at the apex of this conundrum…a hospital room.  A deathbed provides the backdrop for the film’s narration where an old woman with a faint and withering breath admits, “I’m curious what comes next. ” What follows is a stylistically unconventional narrative about the significance of “letting go.”

From a single quote, to a short story, to a screenplay, and finally to a 2 ½ hour-long cinematic representation, the story of Benjamin Button has gone on a journey as unpredictable and exhaustive as that of its title character. The film is based on a short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald who, in turn, was inspired by a quote from Mark Twain: “Life would be infinitely happier if we could only be born at the age of 80 and gradually approach 18.” Amazing how a solitary thought can carry with it the capacity to shape culture more than a hundred years later.

The film is directed by David Fincher, best known for his relentless questioning of human nature and motives in films like Se7en, Fight Club, and Zodiac as well as his earlier work as a visual effects specialist for groundbreaking technological endeavors such as the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series. Button proudly displays Fincher’s expertise in both fields, as an introspective narrative about the human condition and as a visually stunning technological achievement. In fact, if it weren’t for the technology available today, the film may never have been made.

For nearly a century after Fitzgerald penned the tale, Hollywood toyed with the idea of making it a feature film but always came to the same conclusion that it was too elaborate to accomplish. That is until technology caught up with the story and acclaimed screenwriter, Eric Roth, took a stab at a script. Roth, whose award winning writing credits include Forest Gump and The Insider, does an excellent job of conveying Fitzgerald’s original beef with early 20th century American culture, that it was too materialistic, self-centered, and greedy. Nothing like today. Where Roth tends to lose people is in the constant brigade of  “Gump-like” clichés that over-season the film. “We’re all going the same way, it just depends on how we get there;” “It’s not how well you play, it’s how you feel when you play it;” “You’ve got to do what you’re meant to do.” There’s no doubting Roth’s incredible storytelling capability, but he may need to put the box of chocolates and fortune cookies down while writing. There are one too many crumbs in this script.

Stylistically, Button pulls off a huge risk. The entire film is an unconventional series of flashbacks, time moving backwards as a man’s life propels forward. It’s visually striking, rich in metaphor, with an acute attention to detail. The third act unveils itself with a beautifully crafted montage depicting the film’s overarching theme of fate’s dominance over life that could easily stand alone as a short film. While we’re rarely told how old Benjamin is at any given moment in time, numbers on doors, places in life from which he enters and departs, give us a conjecture.

Most engaging about the film is its exemplary cast of lead and supporting actors. Brad Pitt, in quite possibly his most accomplished role yet, is calm, poised, a straight man to the swirling anthology of capricious personalities that surround him. Pitt plays Benjamin up until the last few moments of the film flawlessly pulling off the unprecedented portrayal of a young boy in an old man’s skin both in delivery and physical appearance. Benjamin’s lover, and, at times an antagonist to everything the film fights for, is Daisy, played by Cate Blanchett. Blanchett embodies, all too realistically, the human drive for self-preservation, pride, and the desire never to be seen as weak and vulnerable. She is everything we wish we could change about ourselves. We feel for her. She is passionate, conflicted, strong but delicate. Both Pitt and Blanchett deliver a kinetic friction between their two characters as seasoned actors in stretching, challenging roles.

It’s Button’s supporting cast, however, that illuminates the film’s memorability and major themes, among them the notion of a creator. When advised by a doctor, “some creatures aren’t meant to survive,” Benjamin’s adopted mother Queenie, played by Taraji P. Henson, tells the infant Benjamin, “You still a child of God.”   Ted Manson gives a small but profound performance as Mr. Daws, an absent-minded old man residing in the retirement home Benjamin grows up in. After recalling throughout the film seven random incidents when he was struck by lightning, wisdom from the depths of dementia finally surfaces: “God keeps reminding me I’m lucky to be alive.” Jared Harris, plays Captain Mike, a gruff tattoo artist haunted by his father’s demands to follow the family lineage and work a steamboat. Don’t be surprised if a few of these names come up during Oscar season for best supporting actor nominations.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is a story about a world rapidly spinning out of our control and the inescapable reality of time pushing forward. It invites us to let go, to forgive, to wear the scars and wrinkles that define us with illogical joy. A cinematic achievement that will stretch far beyond the 2008 holiday season, Button is a creative and ambitious outlook on life and all the imperfections that make it worth living.