500 Days of Summer

A few weeks ago, my gf sent me a couple of trailers to watch. Sometime around then, Anton tweeted about a movie that he was gushing about. Then a day or two afterwards I saw the trailer for 500 Days of Summer on TV and said to myself, "I hella want to watch that movie." I texted my gf to google the title. Came to find out that 500 Days was one of the trailers she sent over.

Was it fate? No, just coincidence and me not being attentive to her linkages as much as a good bf should be. But, 500 Days covers a little bit about that - fate versus coincidence - not bf's being completely attuned to gf's links on IM windows.

The point of this longwinded intro to my reflection on the movie is that it piqued my interest as well as those of people whose film tastes I respect. So, naturally, it jumped ahead on my personal movie queue.

Watched it last night. Wow.

Not sure how to say this movie was just plainly easy to love but.. it was just plainly easy to love. The topic, a relationship and impending break-up, is easy to resonate with. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (Tom) and Zooey Deschanel (Summer) were a pleasure to watch individually and together. The supporting cast added a lot, also.

There was a lot more to love with the crafting of the film.

The music was well chosen. The visuals were interesting and well executed. They didn't detract from the narrative but really did compliment it. The dialogue was fresh for a topic done so regularly. The pacing was great, the devices to adjust the narrative (the time changes) were wonderful.

What will stand out are the short visual/film tangents/devices/tricks/gimmicks in the film. I left thinking that the filmmaker must have had a great time putting this film together. When we were driving back, my gf checked the imdb of the film and found out that the director, , had his experience mostly in music videos. And it made sense, but good sense. Sometimes music video directors can't make the jump to full feature (like short story writers making the jump to a novel). He did, though.

It's the type of film that offers a duality of emotions for would-be creators. On one end, it is inspiring. Writers and creators can attach to the story and leave energized by the topic's simplicity and it's commonality. I'm thinking, "dude, I can totally write a story like this." On the other hand, the film and writing were very intimidating. With it's immense creativity in how to retell a already-told story and expertly fused spectrum of emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, pain) it illuminates as an unreachable goal: "God, I can't write anything this true, this funny, this real, this new. Why try?"

What a film. So fun. So interesting. It gets on that very limited list of "buy when it first comes out on DVD."

***

Random tangent: It's funny that Tom's interested in architecture and in the sanctity of true love and soulmates because in How I Met Your Mother, Ted Moseby, Architect, is also one of the true love and soulmate ilk.

posted by breakfast boy@ 10:04 AM