500 Days of Summer

Genre: romance, comedy
Cast: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Chloe Moretz, Geoffrey Arend
Director: Marc Webb

Up until now, a lot of movies with LOVE written on their banner have populated the cinematic area; in fact, there are so many that they almost share the same story line. What makes “500 Days of Summer” to differ from the crowd is the fact that it resembles events from our real life, and we can really see ourselves in the shoes of Tom and Summer. And although some say that Marc Webb's latest movie is an anti-romance film, I say that it's actually a “real-life romance”.

“500 Days of Summer” follows the story of the boy, Tom, a greeting card copywriter, who fells in love with the girl, Summer, the boss' assistant. If Tom, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, believes in the idea of true love, Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel, states from the beginning that she doesn't believe in long-term relationships.

Their entire love affair is ingeniously presented in more sequences (days) which are entirely out of order; as a complex, they portray the way in which their relationship fell apart. So, it's more a story of a break up than a story of finding love. Knowing from the beginning the outcome, the viewer can focus on understanding why love didn't last. It's one of the few opportunities to analyze a relationship.

The pieces that glue together the relationship between Tom and Summer, and which give the movie a certain charm and sensibility, are their common interest in the music of the Smiths, lots of humor and a little bit of passion. Even more, the dialog lines between the two is witty and creative. All these elements put together make Zooey and Joseph believable as a couple, and evoke a certain chemistry.

The movie succeeds to surprise us with its unexpected moments, for example the musical sequence when Tom starts dancing and singing “You make my dreams”, reminding us of one of the classical love stories movies “Singin' in the Rain”.

The distribution of the film is also surprising and confers the movie a certain freshness: Gordon-Levitt, which we know better from the “3rd Rock from the Sun” series, succeeds in being believable as an in love man and Zooey Deschanel, which played next to Jim Carrey in the “Yes Man”, charms us with her humor and honesty.

So, if you want one good reason to see this movie, “500 Days of Summer” is a funny, charming and nonetheless honest movie about love and about the end of love.

Previous weeks:

Comments

Your Comment: