500 days of Summer

This is a story of boy meets girl; hope meets cynicism and the ensuing struggle usually dubbed ‘love’.

Tom (Joseph-Gordon Levitt), the boy, is an anomaly among his bar-hopping gen Y peers. A would-be architect turned reluctant greeting card-writer, he believes in love, fireworks exploding, fairytale ending, synapses firing-on-all-cylinders love. Summer, the girl, does not.

To his credit, Tom is unwavering in the face of her aloofness and pursues her affections––a case of the lovelorn trying to rouse the lukewarm.

What ensues is an exploration of relationship as far removed from the rom-com formula (i.e. Hugh Grant and a brunette of your choosing nervously flirting until someone interrupts a wedding) as you could imagine. The title promises 500 days of Summer––but says nothing about offering them to us in order.

The film discards conventional narrative structure (you know, beginning, middle and end) in favor of jumping back and forth like a chronologically challenged flea. Tom’s headfirst plummet into infatuation on day one bleeds into his first relationship insecurities on day 48. One minute he’s devising ways to catch Summer’s attention, the next he’s trying to win her back. One scene he’s cursing Summer’s every laugh and smile, in the next her effect on his sweat glands are as powerful as her namesake. His post-breakup misery somewhere in the 300s precedes his euphoric high following a successful date in the 60s. Doc Brown and Marty would be proud.
The result is a rare kaleidoscopic view of a relationship. Here, each cringing moment of dejection can inform one of delight and vice versa. The technique speaks powerfully to those of us who have…ahem, selective memories when it comes to partners––preferring to remember only the good or bad fruit of a relationship.
Hopscotching all over the timeline also gives us a few sneak clues as to when/where the seeds of disaster or hope might have been sown.

The soundtrack does its bit to smooth out the jerky time-skipping, with fitting contributions from The Smiths, Simon and Garfunkel, Regina Spektor, Feist and Wolfmother.

While Zooey Deschanel’s summer is serviceable as the breezy Summer, Levitt is a choice casting; his comedic timing is spot-on as the couple play ‘house’ in IKEA, and his weariness while trying to get through the working day with a broken heart is palpaple.

500 is director Marc Webb's first feature film, and he certainly had fun with it––pausing scenes to allow the baritone narrator to dissect characters and their motivations, impromptu dance sequences, split-screen scenarios and nods to other flicks littered throughout. But not as much fun as you’re going to have.

With joy, contempt, hope, fear, misery, hilarity, betrayal and redemption flashing past at random, you’ll feel as disoriented as, well, one young and in love. Which is about as disorientated as it gets.Webb put it best in summarising the film’s ultimate message: ‘There’s a fundamental truth at play here. Yes, love can be cruel, harsh and difficult, but it’s also, by far, the best thing life has to offer.’