What a pleasant film! You're lucky if once a year you find a gem like this one that has you cheering as you walk out of the theatre, not only for its uplifting nature but its artistic insight.
(500) Days of Summer is, in many ways, a psychological study of the affect a romantic relationship has on a person. Chronologically, this film is out of whack, to say the least. But not until now am I realizing just how much this movie travelled back and forth across its story's timeline. There is a smooth flow to the chaos. We start with Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) in a sad state (to put it mildly) and go from there, traversing the mountains and valleys of the relationship from Tom's emotional perspective.
Director Marc Webb doesn't take a defining approach to the story. This seemed to bother Joe Morgenstern of the Wall Street Journal, as the film was "searching for a style." But how else do you expect to portray a relationship? It can't be told in just one way. There are too many dimensions to it all and too many emotions to convey.
The title has been listed two ways, one with the parenthesis surrounding the 500 and one without. I prefer to use the parenthesis. Just to say "500 Days of Summer" seems to label those 500 days of the relationship between Tom and Summer as a sum of sorts. It's like looking at the relationship as a whole and ignoring the individual elements that make it that whole. This movie examines those individual elements and contrives an epic journey that is universal in all aspects.
Tom is all of us. Watch this film and you will find yourself feeling what he feels because you've been there before. Summer (wonderfully casted as Zooey Deschanel) has that child-like look in her eyes that makes you melt. You can't help but fall for her pleasant demeanor and be heartbroken when you realize Tom is ultimately not what she wants.
I'm not sure what else I can say to explain this film to you. It has to be felt.
Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
