Ohh Mr. Narrator you are so right. If this was a love story, I doubt it would be as good. Instead we are treated to a mesmerizing story of what one boy thinks of one girl. Tom (An excellent in every level Joseph Gordon Levitt) sees Summer (Zooey Deschanel in her best role since "All The Real Girls") and knows at once that she is the girl Tom has been looking for. It may not be a love story but it's a movie to fall in love with.
As the opening quote ends the opening credits open and it's a treat. We see through a split screen Tom and Summer growing up through a series of home movie like scenes. It gives a lot to the two already letting us see them as more real people. The film will then proceed to jump around a lot showing different days in their 500 days together in a non chronological order. I say this is the best way to tell this story. It's not here to shake up the film (it does keep it from becoming ordinary, but that's not the reason). Tom says later in the movie that you remember those moments in a relationship and just play them over and over to see what went wrong. You think of the good and the bad here, but never in order. That's what the movie does, it shows the days as what Tom would remember, the most important days and times.
The movie is also told in another unconventional matter and let Tom's feeling come over on to the screen. It's a delight to see because it's all so whimsical. When he "spends the night" with Summer for the first time, his walk to work is anything but ordinary. He imagines everything in a blue manner, people dancing, and his reflection is of Han Solo (because he feels like the man). Tom is beyond happy and the film reflects it perfectly. They show the lows of his time with Summer with similar style. He goes to see a movie and imagines himself on screen in a seres of art-house bleak movies. this includes a humous take on "The Seventh Seal" where instead of Death, Tom plays a game of chess with Cupid (it's genius really). "500 Days Of Summer" is just wonderful in itself.
Tom first talks to Summer in a way that I would say is a fantasy of mine. They stand alone in a elevator going up to work with Tom's headphones playing quite loud. Summer identifies the band and song and sings a verse of it before saying she loves the band and gets off the elevator. Tom is dumb struck as I would be. Imagine a beauty like her coming up to you and saying she loves the song your playing. Now normally this isn't a big deal, but the Smiths (the band and the song was "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out", their best) makes it special. Who listens to the Smiths anymore? To me a girl identifying then saying she loves the Smiths would be a dream come true. In fact Tom and I are alike in many ways. Looking at his childhood it's very similar to mine (sad british music haha). Then the actions and emotions match quite well. When Tom is happy, he just looks at the world like it's a gift, but he's down and isolated when he's sad. Playing more Smith's to get closer to her, drawing some buildings when she says he should continue architecture, and just similar tastes make Tom and I very alike."Loneliness is underrated" Tom says, it's like he's saying what I'm thinking. Movies are better when you connect to them.
Marc Webb (the director and writer) has made something magical. it's a first feature unlike any other (he got the directing job for the Spiderman reboot due to this). He takes the time build up his world and truly cares how it turns out. He cites the little details (tee-shirts of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" and "Unknown Pleasures"), creates a fantastic color pattern and uses one of the best soundtracks in a movie ever to create spin his web. The Smiths, The Pixies, Regina Spektor, Carla Bruni ... hard to beat that. He decides to tell the story of what one thinks a soulmate is rather than a love story. It's smart and refreshing. "500 Days Of Summer" is a gem of a movie and just a classic all around.
9.5/10
Recommendation: It's something amazing to view, I suggest watching it with that special someone.
(Had to use two pictures, the one below is just to awesome not to use.)
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