The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

David Fincher, 2008

Several times during the film Mr Daws, Benjamin's elderly room mate, recounts tales of the seven times he was struck by lightning, visually depicted by scratchy old film of the event.

'Once when I was in the field, just tending to my cows,' he says, and lo, there are some cows who appear unscathed as Mr Daws gets zapped.

I think we'll see a lot more of these reflective, intelligent, meditative films about ageing in the coming years (indeed, I'd say Charlie Kaufman's epic Synedoche New York is already on the list). The 60s and 70s were full of teen culture because of the demographic bulge of baby boomers. Now they're getting old and dealing with very old, senile, gibbering wrecks of parents and realising it's their turn next.

Here's hoping there'll be plenty of nice cows in them.