Friday, September 11, 2009

A 500 Day Journey of Life After Love

But how long till you find happiness again?

BY COLIN ENQUIST

(500) Days of summer
is an offbeat romantic comedy directed by Marc Webb with a script from Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel play the couple, which really is not a couple, in the film. Presented in a non-linear format, each scene is established by what day of the 500 days it is. As the tagline states: This is not a love story. This is a story about love.

Right from the get go we are told about the break up between our two lovers. Through a voice over, which is at times too much, we find out how the two met. Instantly Tom (Gordon-Levitt) falls in love with Summer (Deschanel) but Tom makes Summer into something she is not. As we view the story (from Tom’s point of view) we realize that Summer is very basic, bland but to Tom very attractive, fun and exciting. The reason Summer requires more depth for her character is not the writers fault, but that is the way Tom perceives her. Limiting his view of Summer to only the good times points his mind in the direction of thinking he can change her into something she does not want to be.

The soundtrack was oddly different, really playing off the characters musical tastes, The Smiths was prominent in several scenes. Brit pop was the music used mainly throughout the film and almost every musician the couple talked about was featured; only Ringo Starr music seemed to be missing from the soundtrack but I could have just missed it.

Clichés hurt the film though. It is hard to get away from them but for the most part the filmmakers did. Almost cliché free until the ending. Introducing a new love interest for Tom, a woman whose name is Autumn (Minka Kelly), who he meets at a job interview, received some groans from the audience but it did get some laughs. The use of a younger sibling (Chloe Moretz) to play physiatrist is nothing new. I would really like to meet these intelligent young people who seem to always know more than the protagonists “adult” friends.

Some great scenes really construct (500) Days of Summer into a distinctive romantic comedy. A work party where karaoke is sung really shows Tom’s love for Summer start to truly blossom. This leads to possibly the best scene in the movie, where Tom, Summer and Tom’s best friend McKenzie (played by Geoffrey Arend) discuss each others different feelings about love and how it is portrayed in our society.

Webb, who got his start on music videos, brings a unique vision to the film. The out of nowhere dance number works and shows the fun Tom was having. Quickly he segues over to another day where Tom is feeling the opposite because of the same reason, Summer. Webb uses a uncommon practice in film, showing the same sequence happen from different perspectives. In this case though, not from two different characters but only Tom’s perspective, we just his expectations and reality of what is actually happening.

Love is fun, except when it hurts. This is a breath of fresh air with the film’s honest approach to a love story. The movie reminds me of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and if you enjoyed that film this may be up your alley. It would advise putting this on your Netflix queue if it is not playing in your local theatre.

4 out of 5

2 comments:

Trav said...

zooey d is fuckin awesome. anyways im buyin this movie even tho i havent seen it. zooey dizzle!

Emil Tiedemann said...

Great movie...the dance sequence was too good! Great casting!