"Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life. May 23rd was a Wednesday."
I've never been a huge fan of romantic movies, and no matter how convincingly a friend or family member of mine will try to persuade me into watching one, I hardly ever take their suggestion to heart and actually watch the movie. Maybe it's because I'm a guy and find the genre boring, maybe it's because I find it too girlish, or it could just be because there are so many other genres that are more satisfying to me, I don't know. Being in this position, having to ride a train for two hours with my little sister every now and again in order to see my dad comes in handy. I often get a chance to see some movies I wouldn't have chosen to see otherwise on these trips, seeing as I often let my sister pick which movie to watch whilst we travel. Today she picked 500 Days of Summer, and I'm happy she did.
In 500 Days of Summer, Tom, a young and semi depressed postcard designer meets and falls in love with Summer, an opinionated young woman who doesn't believe that true love exists. The two of them eventually hook up, and thus we have our movie. 500 Days' main focus is to depict the ups and downs that all couples experience, and although this sounds like a really cliched plotline, the movie goes a long to way to tell its' story in a way that leaves the audience feeling like they just witnessed something different from the old ordinary romantic comedy. The editing is a huge part of this sense of originality in my opinion, as is the choice of the main character and his point of view, but most importantly, I believed that the things I saw on the screen could actually take place in real life, and I found that I had to remind myself several times that I was watching a movie and not a documentary. I recently watched The Deer Hunter for the first time, and no matter how great that movie is, I couldn't help thinking about stuff like "how did they film that shot?" or "wow, that scene was really well acted" whilst watching it. This might not sound like a bad thing, but the fact that I was more intrigued about the technical stuff that went into creating the film than by the actual story and the character development, ultimately drags it down a lot. 500 Days never did that. I was completely intrigued in the plot from start to finish, thanks to it's originality.
500 Days Of Summer is music video director marc Webb's first attempt at directing a full scale picture, and he did a fantastic job in my opinion. The attention to detail and the superb way all the different scenes fit together is impressive to say the least, the phasing of the movie is just right, and the plot never feels too drawn out or too rushed. The story is told in a non-linear fashion, with bits and pieces from different situations spread out across 500 days being mixed together in a surprisingly cohesive and smooth manner, and the way Webb handles the transitions between two bits of story is really good looking and well thought up. The whole movie kind of feels like a scrap book, and I have to say that I really enjoyed the way the director and the editors put it together. The actors did a great job as well; Joseph Gordon-Levitt is always a joy to watch, and Zooey Deschanel was really cute and likeable as Summer. The two had some great chemistry throughout the movie, which in it self was really funny most of the time, but really sad at other times as well. To sum it up: All the technical aspects that went into creating 500 Days Of Summer were top notch, the directing, the editing and the writing in particular.
500 Days is one of very few "boy meets girl" stories where the guy's point of view is the most important one. Tom is a really likeable and surprisingly relatable guy, and having him be the main character of the movie worked out nicely. Seeing a romantic movie from the dude's point of view was refreshing to say the least, and it made the movie feel very honest, because it showed that not all guys are egoistic idiots, and that not all girls are innocent and sweet when it comes to relationships. Sometimes girls screw over guys, and that's a fact! Another thing about Marc Webb's first feature film that I enjoyed a lot, is the choice of music that went into it. The Temper Trap's Sweet Disposition is the main theme, and it's a really great song that makes me want to get more involved with music. I used to listen to a lot of music when I was like 15-16 years old, and 500 Days of Summer has made me want to start doing so again.
As mentioned, 500 Days Of Summer is a surprisingly refreshing take on the done to death "boy meets girl" cliche storyline. The narrator of the movie states that "this isn't a love story, but a story about love", which is absolutely true, and this one line summarises the movie perfectly. I consider 500 Days refreshing because it's a very realistic depiction of how things work out when two people fall in love, one that Isn't hollywood'ised and unbelievable, and as a result, this movie left me feeling like I had just witnessed something fresh and out of the ordinary. It sort of lit a fire underneath me, and it made me realise that movies still have the ability to surprise people and reinvent themselves, something I find very satisfying to think about. Watching this movie has gotten me all exited about what the future will bring in terms om films and cinema, simply because it is as different and alternative as it is. Thank you 500 Days Of Summer, thank you.
I mentioned earlier that I'm not a big sucker for RomComs. My favourite movie genre is dark dramas with deep and exciting character development, which basically is the exact opposite of the generic chick flick love movie. I'm always open to surprises and suggestion though, and 500 Days did to me for romantic comedies what Se7eN and Black Swan did for horrors. For what it is, 500 Days is a very satisfying movie in terms of storytelling and realism, so much so that I'd say it's worth buying on BluRay. It's not my favourite movie about love, Brokeback Mountain gets to keep that title for now, but 500 Days of Summer sure is up there. (5/6)
500 Days of Summer IMDb page here
500 Days of Summer trailer here
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