“This is not a love story. This is a story about love.” The tagline for “500 Days of Summer” sums up this film perfectly. This isn’t your typical love story where the world revolves around the idealistic version of love where boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love and they live happily ever after. Close, but no cigar. This movie is about love – not the perfectly romantic cheesy depiction of a love that seems unrealistic but fantastic in the same turn – but more the love that many of us average everyday people experience.
The way in which the tale is told is fantastic; the story bounces from past and present tense depending on which day the relationship of Tom, played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is on with girlfriend Summer, played by Zooey Deschanel. The first scene opens up on day 488 where Summer and Tom are sitting on a park bench, hand-in-wedded-ringed-hand. To catch everyone up to this day in the park, the film reverts back to day one where Tom, a greeting card designer, meets Summer, the new office secretary. Their relationship is much like the typical romance – the beginning is all butterflies and daisies as Tom tries his darndest to get Summer’s attention and eventually wins her over. But then, the scene changes; it fast forwards to later in Tom and Summer’s relationship where the clouds are hovering and Tom feels like he has to pry the steak knife out of his back. The scenes alternate between the beginning of the relationship moving toward day 500, but never missing a beat in filling in the gaps of why the buds are blooming or why they seem to be wilting between Tom and Summer.
One stylistic element that I really liked was when the day counter informed the audience of what day Tom and Summer’s relationship was on through the depictions of a graphic tree. If the day was a happy one for Tom and Summer – like those in the beginning of their relationship – the tree was flowering with green and the sun was shining and you knew that all was going to be happy. On the other hand, if the day was say a little ways into the relationship like day 346, then the tree may have been barren, losing all of its color and the gloom seemed to settle over this poor little graphic tree; you can only imagine how Tom and Summer were doing on those days.
To be frank, I was highly impressed with “500 Days of Summer.” I thought it was wonderfully constructed and perfectly intriguing. But one of the best aspects of the film for me was the profundity around each corner of the film. This movie gave me a lot to think about – which I find a very rare and delightful quality to a film, especially nowadays where the movie business is more about how much bigger of an explosion they can create, or how much more of a pimped-out car they can bring in, or how much quicker the geeky nerds can devirginize themselves so they can be considered “cool”; that’s all just getting a bit old.
One message that “500 Days” sent was that the dreams that we have never materialize until we make the effort to break from the monotony of what is comfortable. Tom is a greeting card designer who aspires to one day become an architect because it is what he has always wanted to do but never actually follows through with because the dream of attaining his dream job will always be for another day – not today. I believe that is how a lot of us sadly spend our lives, working at dead-end jobs with aspirations of something better, but the fulfillments of those dreams rarely come because it becomes too easy to be complacent and stay in a job that is comfortable than to venture out and take a risk on something you truly want. Therefore the moral is: take risks for the things you want most; if you don’t, you’ll never be living to your full potential. Sometimes our sights are set a little below where they should be – in our jobs, with the people in our lives and with the lives we’ve become comfortable living. In order for Tom to start truly living, he needed to find that his sights were set at a bar far lower than his true capabilities. And sometimes, we get our hearts broken to remind us that our life is meant to be lived and it gives us the motivation to push the reset button and start again brand new.
Another comment that really stood out for me was when the profound narrator says, “Most days of the year are unremarkable. They begin, and they end, with no lasting memories made in between. Most days have no impact on the course of a life.” That is really true. Our lives are really mundane from the day to day, but there are some days that will be unforgettable, ones that we will remember for the rest of our lives – but those days are unbeknownst to us until they occur and when they do, they stay etched into us like a brand for the rest of our lives. But those are the days we live for; those are the days we cherish.
Lastly in the profundity department was the question of soul mates. Now, I’ve heard quite a few opinions on soul mates – one being that the predetermination of two people being meant solely for one another is an absurdity for the naïve, the other being the idealistic/optimistic view that soul mates are very real and two people are predestined for that one other person because when those two hearts unite, the world is a better place because two souls have found their missing piece. Okay so I’m a romantic – I’m one of those “naïve” believers in los gemelos de las almas. I believe, just as Tom does, that life leads you on a journey to find that missing piece. When he first lays eyes on Summer and finds out that they share a mutual appreciation for The Smiths, he believes he’s found the one. Yet, Tom’s wise younger sister reminds him that, “Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate.” Well, the little sister has a point – find something more than just a few quirky traits in common before you declare your undying love as a soul mate (just a tip ;) ).
Throughout the course of Tom and Summer’s relationship, the idea of soul mates is tested, destroyed and revived. I really thought they did an excellent job of constructing the film, sneaking in many thought-provoking, real-life situations and really bringing out the best of the love story. I would highly recommend “500 Days of Summer”; it will make you laugh, make you cry, make you think – just like a good film should.
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