A non-typical romance film

Rating: 9/10 (12 March 2010)

I know only two films qualifying as romance which I think are better (The Science of Sleep, and of course, The Graduate). Well, you know, I hate the genre in general, so I guess any film which has something more to it than just a happy love story with a wedding between the main characters in the end would make it in my top romance films.
First with the problems. There are some clichés in this film (the smart little sister, the righteous guy who transforms and sets to follow his true vocation, fight in the bar for a girl etc.), sometimes the situations seem unnatural (the drunken singing, fight in the bar, the somewhat strange boss and coworkers).
Now the good things. One of the first things you notice is the wonderful indie soundtrack. It really sets a nice mood on the film and is fun to listen. I really liked some of the decisions the director made. The "expectations vs reality" scene is wonderful, the city fading to a drawing which is then erased is also nice, the IKEA scene is also very lovable, although I can't get over the feeling this idea has already been somewhere. But I liked the most the moral of the story. I myself have had my Summer, and now I am so happy with my Autumn. With the first girl, there was so much expectations from my side that I was terribly upset when it went wrong. I then of course met another girl and this time after 3 years we are still happy with each other and it looks she might just be the one. Both my relationships happened by accident. So I have also come to realise that although I love my girl so much at the moment, I would have found another and fallen in love with her instead if not that accident. That love is not something fate determines, but what you make of the series of relationships by the method of trial and error, finding the person who is really good for you.
To all who argue this film has a happy ending which spoils the film. Where is it said that they lived happily ever after? It's just a new relationship, a new page which could be anything. Which could be whatever the persons make of it. They could say bye to each other after that cup of coffee, or they could marry and have kids eventually. This is just a reminder that there's always a next chance after your heart is broken.