Every once and a while a movie comes along and just strikes a chord. Sometimes you sit there watching a movie, and it shoots an arrow of unadulterated truth from the screen straight to your heart, and you can't help but want to stand up like a black lady in church and scream out 'Hallelujah!" Well my friends, this is that film. With a charming cast, deft direction, and what is sure to be a hit soundtrack, (500) Days of Summer has done something very few films this year have done, it affected me.
More after the jump...
Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a down on his luck greeting card writer who desperately wants to find true love. Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is a free spirit who doesn't believe in it. The two meet, sparks fly, and confusion erupts. (500) Days tackles what it means to fall in love, how it feels through the entire process, and how sometimes loving someone can mean also acknowledging that they aren't the right one for you.
Gordon-Levitt is crafting himself quite the career. He has gone from wacky young talented actor into full-blown leading man without ever once really compromising his artistic integrity. (We will wait for G.I. Joe to come out before final judgment is passed.) He is talented and versatile and often receives comparisons to the likes of Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger. He's also worked with a slew of great directors from Rian Johnson to Spike Lee.
Deschanel has had a meteoric rise to fame starring as that wide eyed beautiful girl we all wish we could date. She started out with indie fare like All the Real Girls and graduated up the ranks until she was starring next to Will Ferrells and Jim Carreys all the while winning our hearts over with each new, although somewhat similar, role. Needless to say, the stars of (500) Days of Summer go a long way in making you love the film, but, at its heart, the film is only as good as the script it was derived from, and boy is that script good.
Newcomers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter know what love is and have clearly written from the heart. Some of the scenes and details of the romance that unfolds on screen are just too organic to not have been a real part of their lives. Like I said, this movie is like sitting down with a friend, lamenting about a relationship complaint/praise, and jumping up and going, "DUDE! I know exactly what you're talking about. Me too!" It's that kind of affirming experience that makes (500) Days the sure-to-be sleeper hit of the summer. But all of this could not have come together without the clear direction of video director Marc Webb. He blends moments together and makes stylistic choices that just really help drive these scenes home. The right words were on the page, but Webb takes those words, visualizes them, and finds a way to fly them off the screen and straight into your blood pumper.
While it may seem like 500 Days is just your average ordinary, good summer rom-com, rest assured it is not. With every department firing on all cylinders and a very unique editorial decision to tell the story non-linearly, 500 Days has made itself into one of those films you won't soon forget, even if it leaves your heart broken and devastated in a kitchen, eating cookie dough from a tube...like some stupid bitch.
--Greg MacLennan
Gordon-Levitt is crafting himself quite the career. He has gone from wacky young talented actor into full-blown leading man without ever once really compromising his artistic integrity. (We will wait for G.I. Joe to come out before final judgment is passed.) He is talented and versatile and often receives comparisons to the likes of Gary Oldman and Heath Ledger. He's also worked with a slew of great directors from Rian Johnson to Spike Lee.
Deschanel has had a meteoric rise to fame starring as that wide eyed beautiful girl we all wish we could date. She started out with indie fare like All the Real Girls and graduated up the ranks until she was starring next to Will Ferrells and Jim Carreys all the while winning our hearts over with each new, although somewhat similar, role. Needless to say, the stars of (500) Days of Summer go a long way in making you love the film, but, at its heart, the film is only as good as the script it was derived from, and boy is that script good.
Newcomers Michael Weber and Scott Neustadter know what love is and have clearly written from the heart. Some of the scenes and details of the romance that unfolds on screen are just too organic to not have been a real part of their lives. Like I said, this movie is like sitting down with a friend, lamenting about a relationship complaint/praise, and jumping up and going, "DUDE! I know exactly what you're talking about. Me too!" It's that kind of affirming experience that makes (500) Days the sure-to-be sleeper hit of the summer. But all of this could not have come together without the clear direction of video director Marc Webb. He blends moments together and makes stylistic choices that just really help drive these scenes home. The right words were on the page, but Webb takes those words, visualizes them, and finds a way to fly them off the screen and straight into your blood pumper.
While it may seem like 500 Days is just your average ordinary, good summer rom-com, rest assured it is not. With every department firing on all cylinders and a very unique editorial decision to tell the story non-linearly, 500 Days has made itself into one of those films you won't soon forget, even if it leaves your heart broken and devastated in a kitchen, eating cookie dough from a tube...like some stupid bitch.
--Greg MacLennan
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