Fridae

Beautifully textured and endlessly fascinating, it's no wonder The Curious Case of Benjamin Button scored 13 Oscar nominations - more than any other film this year. Together with The Dark Knight, we can safely say that there is no film in 2008 more technically accomplished than these two.

This adaptation of an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story tells a truly astonishing tale of a man (played by Brad Pitt) aging backwards. Born in 1918, Benjamin is a baby that looks like an old man. His skin is parched and wrinkled, his body arthritic, and his eyes are full of cataracts. His father takes one look at him and decides to abandon him at the doorstep of an old folks' home.

Benjamin grows up among senior citizens, not realizing that he is getting stronger and younger every day while those around him die. One day he meets Daisy, the granddaughter of one of the patients. He is struck by her electric blue eyes and it sets off an obsession that would last a lifetime.

As he becomes younger, taller and more handsome, she matures into a beautiful woman (Cate Blanchett). And the two begin to love each other passionately. But Nature has never been kind (or cruel) to Benjamin, and it will not let up�

Directed by the extraordinary David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club), it's hard to say for sure what the film wants to convey through the complex journey of this man. As events unfold over the Depression era and WWII up to the present time, the story seems to confirm the notion of destiny: You may reverse, delay or alter the order of events in your life, but the outcome is always the same - loneliness and death.

Despite the sad conclusion, the story is so beautifully told, so magnificently shot and directed, that it surely deserves every single Oscar nomination it received - including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Now pundits are predicting that Best Picture rival Slumdog Millionaire will be the big winner on Oscar night. But whether Benjamin Button nabs the Best Picture statuette or not almost doesn't matter. This film is a romantic epic for the ages - a Dr Zhivago for the new millennium.