500 Days of Summer

500 Days of Summer

The plot

He's Tom, from New Jersey, working in L.A. writing greeting cards even through he's an architect by training. She's Summer, in from Michigan. Day one is her first day as an AA in Tom's office. We jump back and forth in time: by day 67, they've become an item when she decides to put aside the lovemaking and just be friends. Tom, a romantic who's sure Summer is the one for him, wallows in self pity. We go back to the early days and see the relationship begin. Summer tells him right away that she doesn't believe in love. He mopes well past day 100. Then, as day 500 approaches, they find themselves at a wedding together. Does the old flame rekindle? Is Tom right that destiny controls love?

The Review

Joseph Gordon-Levitt (JGL) is the star of this movie. I have been familiar with this guy ever since he graced the silver screen in the TV Show 3rd Rock from the Sun. His performance in that show demonstrated that he had enough ability to be a break out star. But rather than take the Hollywood route, JGL has chosen the more accomplished route of starring in Indie movies. But every so often a quality movie will reach the top whether it chooses to go all Hollywood or not and this movie is an example. Not to say that JGL has not dabbled in commercial movies, as he was the villain in the enjoyable G.I Joe Movie.

As you can tell Summer is the girl in the movie and the centre of attention for Tom. This movie has fantastic performance from the actors. What I love is the way that you invest in the characters. When Summer meets Tom later in the movie at this park, somewhere she knows Tom goes to reflect, you are screaming at the screen at Summer for invading Tom's space. I also love the scene where Tom is on his way to see Summer and believes that she has invited him to the party to potentially get back together with him. The screen splits into two as we have expected outcome on one side and reality on the other.

This is just another example about how the movie attempts to reflect the inner workings of the mind. Often when we think back on a relationship, the mind does not work in a linear chronological order, but gears back and forwards based on events that have impacted us. In the same way how many times have we played out a scene in our head but in actuality the outcome is different.

I would not say this is a romantic movie, but one one that tries to illustrate how our minds work. This movie will have you laughing, feeling sad and very angry...sharing the emotions with the characters and it is rare for a movie to do this.

I think that this movie is 5/5