Hands up, who has ever had their hearts broken and it felt like the end of the world? If so, and one imagines it is a good majority,
(500) Days of Summer is the perfect remedy. It is a film sailing the troubled waters of unrequited love with style and good humour. As a take on the genre; it feels fresh and honest. For too long now, romantic comedies have been aimed at the women-who-cant-get-a-decent-boyfriend demographic focusing on sexist stereotypes and turning a great genre into a cynical marketing ploy known as the chick flick. The type of movie
John Cusack makes when hes had a flop or needs to fund an indie project. They are ten-a-penny. So when one comes along that tries to reclaim the genre, it can only be a good thing. Director
Marc Webbs debut takes a philosophical,
Woody Allen-type approach than most films of this type would ever dare: delivering a film wholly from a male perspective.
Joseph Gordon-Levitts Tom, a lonely greetings card writer, is an idealist. Therefore like all idealists, his dreams will never match the reality. Like many of historys greatest writers and poets he believes in the redeeming, soul-elating power that is called Love. When he is introduced to the new office secretary, Summer (
Zooey Deschanel) Tom doesnt so much as fall in love: he leaps in head first. He is convinced Summer is The One. However, a clever caveat is pre-delivered to the audience via the promotional advertising campaign informing us: Tom falls in love. Summer doesnt. To put it another way: this glorious Summer soon becomes Toms winter of discontent. It is a great credit to Zooey Deschanel in making Summer a very likeable, albeit confusing figure. This unsure, insecure beauty gives unintended mixed signals to Tom, which further add his despair. Tom projects his dream life on to Summer, convincing and fooling only himself that because they like the same things: The Smiths, for example, they are star-crossed lovers. The truth is they are not. At all. It is a very post-modernist piece of work from a former music video and commercials director (and it shows), its style and tricks often get in the way of what is at heart, a great story. Instead of maintaining focus on its rather delightful puzzle-like structure, think
Memento; it seems restless and employs all manner of cinematic devices: narration, animation, dance numbers, direct-to-camera addresses. Sometimes it charms, and sometimes it feels too quirky for its own good. A couple of stylistic flourishes are well executed: the homage to European cinema; depicting the emotional desolation of Tom post-break up; done in black and white with a French narrator is excellent. The highlight of the entire film employs a split screen device showing Toms fantasy and the harsh reality as he walks up a flight of stairs to Summers apartment to attend a party. One imagines many people have felt the same tumultuous emotions as detailed in
(500) Days of Summer. No matter how much one wants their object of desire, some things are not meant to be. Most people have been in love with a person who does not love them quite so intensely. It is universal and part of the human experience.