Wednesday 23 June 2010

(500) Days of Summer

Hello, bloggers! As stated in my previous post, here is my review on the film, (500) Days of Summer. First of all, I have to say that I completely adored it from the very moment that I watched it in September last year. Writing this review has even given me the excuse to buy it on DVD.
…Hey, it’s still for educational purposes! Even if I do have to watch it five times back-to-back, it’s purely for “analysis” and if I just so happen to enjoy it, you most definitely won’t hear me complaining!

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Firstly, this film is incredibly heartfelt and honestly one of the best films I’ve seen in a long time. The fact that the film begins with the line: ‘This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story’ just makes me fall in love with it even more. I remember Joseph Gordon-Levitt being very similar in the film, 10 Things I Hate About You, where he plays the cute social outcast, to how he is in 500 Days. The male lead is fantastic in his depiction as this creative, yet pathetically romantic man called Tom Hansen, who is completely and utterly in love with Summer Finn. She’s played by Zooey Deschanel, who has appeared as a cynical indie chick in just about every film of hers that I've seen (Failure To Launch, Elf, Crash, Yes Man, etc.). So if you've seen her in one of these roles, imagine that multiplied by ten billion. She is just the epitome of cool. Seriously, she scores off the chart of cool-ness.

Back to the actual review... The film is basically a rom-com with a twist. Everything that we girls dream about – well, I know I do – seems to occur in this film: a besotted boy who takes you on dates to IKEA and actually likes the same music that you do, i.e. The Smiths?! It seems too good to be true and thankfully, it is. Summer turns away from the love that Tom bombards her with, leaving poor Tom sporting a broken heart and a hangover. But even though I love Tom’s character, I don’t see Summer as the bad guy in the equation (and this isn’t just because of Zooey), but because I understood where she was coming from.
When you know that you love someone, you just know. Summer didn’t and that was the problem. No questions asked.

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Even though I haven’t been in anywhere near the same situation as Tom and Summer, I found 500 Days really easy to relate to. Most parts were profoundly funny; Tom’s dance number almost had me in hysterics. Every time I thought that something was going to happen, I was instantly surprised by a sudden turn of events. Rachel, Tom’s sister, was wise beyond her years and consoled him as if he were the younger sibling, not the other way around. Tom’s friends were also fantastic in their roles as they brought so much humour to the depressing time that is heartbreak.

500 Days has already been hailed by Nick Hornby as ‘the most true-to-life romantic comedy of the past 20 years’. Nick Hornby is one of my favourite writers and I have already written about High Fidelity in a recent post (see here), so I invariably loved 500 Days of Summer too.

For me though, so many highlights of the film were related to music. This film is basically an analogy for a great song. For example, I loved it when Tom was wearing an array of Joy Division t-shirts (I’m also hoping to acquire one myself very soon). There was also the shot of matching Morrissey covers in both Tom and Summer’s childhood rooms. There were Joseph’s and Zooey’s renditions of both Nancy Sinatra’s Sugar Town and The Pixie’s Here Comes Your Man, respectively, which I found to be particularly endearing. Or the fact that I recognised Belle & Sebastian amongst the many quotable lines:
Colour my life with the chaos of trouble.’
It was all of these little things that made me smile and it’s always a good feeling to recognise something from a film – I felt very wise by the end!

The soundtrack was also, I imagine, the musical equivalent to the invention of the wheel. Some of my favourite artists were featured in the film, including: Regina Spektor, The Smiths, Simon & Garfunkel and The Pixies.

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I have to say that during the end credits of the film, I completely disagreed with the opening line: ‘This is a story of boy meets girl. But you should know up front, this is not a love story’. I personally thought that it was, most definitely, a love story. Perhaps it wasn’t the most conventional of romantic-comedies, with its dry humour, splashes of satire and unpredictability. I was constantly waiting in anticipation to see what would happen next, but became distracted by my incessant laughing, due to the numerous wise cracks that appeared throughout. I loved that it was different and didn’t conform to the stereotype of a summer feel-good film, even though I ended up feeling amazingly optimistic. Which is quite a feat for a pessimistic person like myself. I loved it.

On a parting note, for those of you who haven’t yet been graced by the cinematic, dramatic and musical prowess which is so evidently present in said film, I urge you all to go buy the DVD. I really don’t want to have to shun any of my blog-readers, because I love you all very much, but seriously, don’t make me come back there..
Feel like challenging me? Don't.
This is a definite must-see! Go, go, go!


Here are some links to find out more about 500 Days of Summer:
Official Website, Amazon, IMDB, Youtube Trailer, Wikipedia


Chloe xxx

P.S. I really did enjoy writing this review. Perhaps it might be an idea to turn this into a permanent feature of my blog. I’d really love to hear your thoughts on whether you’d like to see more reviews on all sorts of books, films, music, anything at all.

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(All photos were found via Google Images and are copyrighted to (500) Days of Summer.)

17 comments:

  1. this was really amazing, you have such a flair in your writing, it made me envious (in a good way).
    you commented on my 500 days of Summer post on my blog so I thought I'd return the favour. xxx

    also,agreed, it IS a love story and Zooey has to be one of the most gorgeous people to grace the planet. Just saying. hahaha

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  2. The film really surprised me actually. I thought it was going to be a bit schmaltzy and predictable. But it was fantastic. And the beginning about how Summer was different, was just perfect.
    And yes...Tom's dance: Classic.
    Oh and when mentioning music, don't forget Sweet Disposition by Temper Trap being in there. Twice! Awwwwwesome song.
    And his lovely little face at the end when she says Autumn. I loved that ending because before I saw the film, I didn't know her name was summer, I thought it was 500 days of the season!

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  3. My favorite movie of all time. :) Hence the name of my blog.

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  4. oh I love this film, i bought it on DVD the first day it came out, not knowing how it was gonna be, but I knew it would be a hit. I feel sorry for Tom, but it is so realistic, films that aren't are just giving people dead-end hope unfortunately. But an amazing movie, brilliant review.

    J'aime
    www.tinominosquared.blogspot.com

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  5. Aw you're too kind. :) I've been meaning to do a close-up of my tattoo but I forgot! I'll do one for sure on the next post.

    xo

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  6. I love Zooey, she's so quirky and truly beautiful!
    Amazing post!

    Phiephie
    THE FASHION SMOKE x

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  7. thats a good review, definitly a movie to see, cutest thing ;)
    nice blog!, xx, zaia
    www.miss-make-a-mess.blogspot.com

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  8. Well done on your review, I think you summed up the film really well. I loved this movie! Despite the fact that it didn't have a 'happy ending' I walked out feeling rather uplifted. It was just so adorable.

    And the fashion in it was amazing. I loved that they dressed summer always in some form of blue, it tied the film together so well.

    Music in it was wonderful too.

    Oh! this just makes me want to watch it again!!

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  9. I'm so gonna watch this movie!

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  10. i'm so impressed chloe, you've obviously got the gift! i reckon you should do more :)

    p.s, it's nice seeing you so often now, that smile of yours always brightens my day x

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  11. i also watched the movie..
    i love the soundtracks. :))

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  12. The soundtrack to this movie is SO good, i watched it on the plane to america. My favourite scene would have to be, when they are in ikea, and Tom says 'Darling there is a chinese family in our bathroom' I was giggling on the plane like there was no tomorrow.

    I am leaning towards the blue dress more aswell.....AHHHH
    I'm nervous about it being my last ever ball......

    do you have one, or have you already had one?

    Em
    xxxx

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  13. So I saw your blog. I wanted to invite you to edk.dolce I developed the idea for "Featured Followers by Elle © " where I promote all my followers, and give them a chance to attract more people to their blog & for my followers to learn more about them! Check out my blog @ www.edkdolce.blogspot.com
    *Elle

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  14. (500) days of summer is one of my most favourite films ever! I was in stitches during the dance sequence 'the morning after' and I loved the way that it wasn't in chronological order... ofcourse if you're only half-watching it though it gets pretty confusing, tehe.
    Zooey D' is so beautiful - I love how all of her characters have a cyncial nature but there's always this irresistable disposition that her male counterparts fall victim to.

    Great post, you have a really sweet blog!
    http://www.simplyspence.blogspot.com/
    x

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  15. I loved the review.

    I've never heard of the film lol but it looks good.

    Laura xx

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  16. Love this movie! Awesome blog! :)

    Take a peek, drop a line, follow...

    big-apple-living.blogspot.com

    xx

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  17. I've always wanted to see this movie! I definitely want to get it out asap!

    You should make a movie review part of your blog - it'll be fun for you, and entertaining for us :)

    x Jasmine

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I read and appreciate every single comment, so thank you in advance for visiting my blog! :-)