And so my very own ‘Summer’ ends with one last outing to the flicks to see a long awaited (500) Days of Summer. The one-sided love story about boy, Tom (Joseph Gordon- Levitt) who meets girl, Summer (Zooey Deschanel). Boy falls in love and girl does not. An interesting take on the rom-com and ultimately, a very satisfying film.
Not all of the movie is spot on, though. The narration at the start and end of the film for example, doesn’t seem to fit with the Indy, self-made feel. However, there are many key moments within (500) Days that really stick with the viewer long after seeing the movie. A few of these being, the outings taken to Ikea and the real sense of fun that the actors portray while creating fantasy worlds for themselves, the spontaneous break into dance that Tom experiences after his first night with Summer and the cut-to-the-core scene in which Tom’s hopes are displayed next to reality. Throughout the film, you are constantly having a number of your own thoughts mirrored back at you, like how often you have seen an event going one way only to find it turns unexpectedly in another. Both main actors play their parts well, with Deschanel playing ‘the bitch’ as many of my friends have put it, when really she is a very rounded character who is neither good nor bad, just undecided. And Gordon- Levitt, who rides easily over the wide spectrum of emotions experienced in a relationship, from elation to bed-ridden depression, and all with a sweet, naïve air and very agreeable visage.
What makes the movie seem so fresh and unique (I believe) is that this kind of romantic story has never really been portrayed as a narrative on its own before. It is about the relationship that usually comes before ‘the one’ and has often been overstepped so that a more satisfying story can be told. However, this portrayal of something that will ultimately happen to most of us is an idea to actually be quite fond of, as it is relationships like these that help to create the very fabric of our own personalities.
