(500) Days of Summer

Day 9/192-(500) Days of Summer: Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel

(500) Days of Summer begins by telling us that this is not a love story, but a story about love, which is very fitting. This film, through an excellent script and superb performances by Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel, may be enough to dispel all romantic notions you may still hold on to. Or it may reinforce them further, it is a film that lets you make a choice.

The story follows Tom Hansen (Gordon-Levitt) a romantic by nature, who believes that there is a "one" out there for him. When he meets Summer (Deschanel) he is convinced that she is the one and falls head over heels. But Summer is the child of a broken marriage and doesn't believe in love or "ones" or even relationships. So Tom sets about trying to change her mind, or at least enjoying the ride while he is there.

The (500) in the title refers to the timespan of their time together, some good,some bad, but an excellent storytelling device. By jumping back and forth through time, we can see in an instant where things have gone sour and the contrast from the beginning of their relationship, to when things have gone off the boil.



The dialogue at times is fantastic, particularly from Tom's little sister, who tells him Summer isn't the one "just because she likes all the same weird crap as him." Tom's romantic delusions are very realistic, as any romantic man will tell you, and every time his feelings for Summer are dealt a blow, you will feel like you are right there next to him, which is a credit to all involved.

Summer herself at times comes across as cold, but it is impossible to hold her feelings against her as she is very clear about how she feels and from being in the audience we have the benefit of being able to see that everything isn't quite clicking in the way that Tom imagines. This is made perfectly clear in a brilliant scene where the screen is split into Tom's expectations on one side, and the reality on the other.



I think this is a great film and one I will watch many times again, it is funny enough to be considered good comedy and the love-story is unique and entertaining. The corresponding scenes where Tom talks about his thoughts on Summer's hair, teeth and birth-marks will resonate with anyone who has been in a doomed relationship and the complete sense of injustice you will leave with as Tom meets Summer on a bench on day 500 will take you back to certain points in your own life.

And that is what makes this film such a success, it comes from the heart and is so real it is impossible not to feel some sense of attachment. In depicting an almost, but not-quite perfect relationship, they have captured a very human story with just the right level of kitsch and at no point do we stop caring about what happens to the characters.

9/10