(500) Days of Summer
Marc Webb
Watermark
4/5 stars
If you have spent the past few rainy summer months waiting for that one blissful true-love story that will distract you from the hum-drum of everyday life, (500) Days of Summer is certainly not the movie for you.
The charming film is this season’s indie, contemporary anti-love story. Garden State, eat your heart out.
Turning the usual desperate love-seeking girl cliché on its head, the story unfolds the lives of Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) as they fall both in and out of love against the backdrop of the city sky-line.
The quirky and vibrant Summer, who is “no ordinary girl,” has become convinced since her parents’ divorce that love is not something worth looking for, simply because it does not exist.
Tom, an aspiring architect turned greeting card writer, on the other hand, has been waiting patiently for that special someone to come along and see all of his dreams of love realised.
Of course, what would be the point of telling this story if everything went according to plan? The 500 days referred to in the film’s title are a series of highs and lows true to most relationships in this TMZ-obsessed generation – except with well-timed comedic inserts and a fitting soundtrack including tunes from the Smiths and Regina Spector.
Gordon-Levitt, known best for his role in the ’90s sitcom Third Rock from the Sun, solidifies his reputation as an indie-film regular, giving an honest and captivating performance that brings this atypical rom-com to life. He is not only responsible for the film’s playful humour, but also the cause of the audience’s sympathy and empathy for the love-struck and seemingly lost Tom.
Marc Webb’s clever directing on his first feature-length production brings a light-hearted and stimulating way of story-telling to the film that bumps it up from a glance-over to an artsy must-see summer flick.
Consider yourself warned; despite the romantic notions in this tale of love, this film is unapologetic in its promise to bring you back to down to Earth with a thud.
Nonetheless, it’s a refreshing break and a welcomed off-beat story for all those who find that the soppy love accounts usually generated in Hollywood leave them feeling not only empty, but slightly ill.