One of the best movies of 2009 is out on DVD as of December 22, so mark your calendars. Here's my review:
(500) Days of Summer, starring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon Levitt and directed by music video guru Marc Webb, uses split screen, dance sequences and a day counter that marks flashbacks and present moments to tell a story that “is not a love story.” What it is, however, is an exciting, heartbreaking, funny, smart and overall truthful look at love and the idea of “destiny.” In the space of 95 minutes, we follow Tom (Levitt) through 500 days (give or take a few that we don’t see) of being head-over-heels obsessed with a woman named Summer (Deschanel). Summer is bubbly and beautiful and tears the protagonist’s world apart without ever meaning to - she insists from the beginning that she’s not looking for a serious relationship (in fact, she claims she doesn’t believe in “love,” that it’s a myth). What’s especially honest and lovely about (500) Days... is that it doesn’t place blame and there is no bad guy (or girl). Instead, Tom and Summer are just two people who feel different things for each other. It's this very simple truth sometimes about love - that it can be lopsided quite often, a sad fact that diehard romantics might find hard to take- that is the movie's focus and it's actually the realism that gives it its heart.
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