500 days of summer
This is a story of boy meets girl, boy falls for girl,
girl doesn’t believe in love.
An interesting yet somewhat simple tagline for a film
that manages to include so many different elements and meanings. To be honest,
I put off seeing this film for a very long time always thinking of it as a cheesy
rom-com that wouldn’t differ from any other type from its genre. Eventually,
what drew to me to the film was the main character of Tom Hansen played by
Joseph Gordon-Levitt whose performances I’ve recently come to enjoy.
An offbeat romantic
comedy about Tom a young man who falls for Summer, a woman who doesn't believe
true love exists.
The story is told in a nonlinear narrative and takes
place in the space of 500 days in which the main character Tom recalls how he
met Summer and how their relationship developed through these days. This is an
element of the film which I felt was the strongest as it doesn’t dwell on
certain moments for too long for example, we are shown how Tom and Summer meet
in the earlier days and instead of expanding on this instantly, the film jumps
to about 20 days later when they establish their feelings for one another. This
shows many different sides to their characters and also allows the writers to
include random moments for comedy purposes. As these fast-forwards happen frequently
throughout the film, they allow the writers the chance to also go back to the
first few days for specific scenes that are vital at a later stage in the film.
Something I really appreciated about this film other than
the script was the casting decisions.
Joseph Gordon- Levitt and Zooey Deschanel who play the
lead roles have a fantastic chemistry on-screen which really carries the film
and makes their relationship seem realistic and approvable. These actors
provide quirky yet unique personas to their characters which I believe very few
actors have the ability to provide and therefore this allows the audience to
really engage in the storyline and root for the 2 to end up together.
Pros:
- Strong casting choices
- Nonlinear narrative works out extremely well
- Great direction by Marc Webb and superb script
- Awesome soundtrack!
Cons:
- A liitle more character development might have been needed on Tom
- A better supporting cast (except chloe grace moretz who was awesome)
Overall, 500 Days Of Summer is undoubtedly one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. It is a unique and surprisingly funny film of its genre with random moments of comedy and hilarity but also expands upon the romantic element with the prime focus being a love story that even includes more than a few moments of sadness and heartbreak.
8.5/10
I do not own the rights to these videos or images
