500 Days of Summer

This movie stands for everything I believe in...

Rating
Form: ♥♥♥
Content: ♥♥♥♥

Being a student of the craft and a film aficionado, I'm sort of wired to look beyond the "happy" in a film and deconstruct what's already digested for the eyes, but as a viewer with grave traces of romantic idealism etched on her forehead, I could not help but do.

Today I saw the full-length version of 500 Days of Summer directed by debuting film
director Marc Webb. This off-beat romantic comedy stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel as Tom Hansen and Summer Finn, respectively.

Tom is a greeting card writer with colorful pictures of "The One" on his head (no thanks to pop culture) while Summer is the free spirit with a little too much shot of cynicism in her blood.

The film's formula: boy meets girl- boy falls in love with girl- girl doesn't. Hence, the tag line, "This is not a love story." You can just imagine the tragedy of a one-sided love affair, which by the way, I had my fair share of. Good thing the attack was light and humorous or else I would've died of utter sympathy.

Webb, who's a video music director, also scored love with an impressive soundtrack that includes two of my favorite female (indie-feel) artists Feist (Mushaboom) and Regina Spektor (Us and Hero). My favorite track has to be She's Got You High by Mumm-Ra.

This movie might as well be my flavor of the month (safe to say since September is ending soon) because it got me feeling the whole nine yards. I didn't puke from a sugary fairytale ending and didn't got suicidal depressed from too much pessimism.

If you want a doze of reality without spilling blood (death seems to be the measure of realism in movies nowadays), 500 Days of Summer is just what the doctor ordered. This movie will get you feeling love, hate and love again.

Let me just say that when one thing ends, something else is bound to begin. And just like Summer, who vowed against falling at first, everybody will have his/ her time at the plate. It's just a matter of waiting and finding that person who'll be worth the leap of fate/ faith.

Kudos to the source...



©Grace Ramos