Moving despite the flaws

Rating: 10/10 (16 March 2010)

(500)Days of Summer is admittedly a slight film. But in contrast to the heavy handed, conventional, and leaden quality of most romantic comedies that inhabit the multiplex, it almost feels like a miracle. Amidst all the pop-culture glitter that surrounds the film, the protagonists ask some fairly profound questions about the nature of love and fate. It's so refreshing to see a filmmaker acknowledge that these aren't concepts that are set in stone; that most relationships don't automatically begin with a contrived meet-cute and end with a wedding. The process of love is detailed here, and the tragedy of building your love and hopes on a totally misguided foundation is rendered movingly. Tom is a person whose passions are directed at the wrong targets; clearly Summer is not in the same place he is and never will be. He is a greeting card writer, a profession trafficking in the most trite and simple emotions, instead of following his passion for architecture. Meanwhile Summer is also floating; her character is never developed and remains sketchy, but I think that this is intentional by the writers. Summer's feet never really touch the ground until she does what she thought was impossible - fall in love. From the perspective of Tom, which is really the character that we are supposed to sympathize with, Summer remains a cloudy object of desire, forever eluding definition. He never REALLY gets her, which is why they could never be together. Both Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel do a terrific job of interpreting the characters as they were written. They truly make you care about these people and wonder what they are doing when the movie ends. Some of the inserts and segments may be a little gimmicky, but the picture overall is really memorable. The music and cinematography are gorgeous and deserve recognition.