The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

I saw the trailer for this movie the other day, although I can't remember where (on TV, maybe?). My first thought was: Wow, the cinematography looks amazing, much in the style of The English Patient. My second thought was: Gee, this story sounds incredibly familiar, but the title of the book I'm thinking of has nothing to do with Benjamins or buttons. Hmm.

The Brad Pitt/Cate Blanchett film - out December 25- is about a man who's born old. Unlike everyone else, he ages backwards. According to IMDB, he starts out in 1918 as a wrinkled 80-year-old man, and no doubt goes through some very bizarre experiences as the world changes and he gets younger.

The storyline sounds very much like Martin Amis' novel Time's Arrow, published in 1991 (I think). It's been years since I've read this book, so my memory is a bit fuzzy, but it's about a doctor on his deathbed, at the end of a cruel and disastrous life. Part of him is reborn, an innocent, unknowing part, and travels backwards from the present. It turns out that the doctor worked at a concentration camp, but to this new part, traveling backwards, the doctor gives life instead of taking it away. It's very weird but as I recall, I really liked it.

I'm thinking I need to read it again. But with a little Googling, I'm also realizing that The Curious Case of Benjamin Button has its own source: an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. I love Fitzgerald, I wish I had had the chance to pal around with him and Ernest Hemingway in Europe in the 20s. So I'm thinking I should read this story too and see how they compare. Then I'll blog again...