(500) Days of Zooey (Summer)

"This is not a love story. This is a story about love." Each of the many times that I have been prodded by a friend to describe (500) Days of Summer, I found myself resorting to this simple, albeit wholly accurate, synopsis of the film's themes and plot. This is not a love story so much as it is the story of Tom's (portrayed by 10 Things'/3rd Rock's Joseph Gordon-Levitt) agonizing journey from love at first site with Summer (get it? played by Zooey Deschanel) to post-relationship existential crisis to his ultimate recovery while along the way learning about the reality of love and relationships. The story unfolds in an Annie Hall-like, non-linear fashion, jumping between early "days" and late "days" (marked by screen placards) in his relationship with Summer, showing both the good and the bad, the shaky legs upon which the relationship first stood and then how easily they were cut out from beneath it. But to come away from that brief description with the assumption that the film as at all depressing, you would be quite wrong. In fact, you leave the film with a effervescent sense of happiness, pure and simple, as Tom finally gets his break.

(500) Days was brilliantly directed by feature film newcomer Marc Webb. As it turns out, Webb made his name in the film industry by directing music videos for a variety of major musical acts, everything from Daniel Powter to Diddy to Backstreet Boys (check out the video section of his website), and this background shines time and time again throughout the film. Whether it be a Disney style dance number with an animated robin, a Take On Me-esque pencil sketch sequence, a sequence showing Tom post-breakout that was highly reminiscent of Powter's Bad Day video, and a truly heart wrenching sequence showing side by side Tom's "Expectation" and "Reality" play out at a party. Webb also uses several techniques that harks back to the French New Wave, including a sequence with a French narrator in which Tom watches his story unfold before his eyes, and by splicing scenes from The Graduate into specific parts of the film to add emotional urgency. The inclusion of scenes from The Graduate immediately brought to mind not just Dustin Hoffman and Mrs. Robinson, but also Garden State, another film that not as overtly referenced the classic and a film to which (500) Days has already drawn much comparison.

In addition to Webb's playful, yet emotional, direction were the strong performances by JGL and ZD. JGL has quite noticeably matured a ways since his 10 Things past, and he has also lightened up his act since the teen-neo-noir Brick. He played both dimensions of his character with ease, as both the awkward, idealistic lover searching for excuses to talk to his crush and the cynical, misanthropic shell of a character that was left raw immediately following their breakup. As for ZD, I am convinced that the whole palette of the film may have been chosen to match her eyes and a particular sun dress that she wore to a scene set in Ikea of all places. We quickly find, however, that her disarming beauty conceals a very complicated, maybe selfish, maybe manipulative, maybe confused, but certainly emotionally walled off Summer. See what your opinion of her character is and how it changes as more and more days unfold, I think that the development, while subtle, is implicit in understanding why Tom fell for Summer in the first place.

Complemented by a stellar soundtrack featuring songs by Regina Spektor and The Smiths, (500) Days is the most beautiful film I've seen in quite a while, and the first to capture the same emotional sentiment evoked by Garden State five years ago now. Speaking of GState, be sure to look out for two legendary supporting roles played by Geoffrey Arend (GState's Karl, the pyramid scheme guy) and Matthew Gubler (an intern in The Life Aquatic). (500) Days will be a pleasure to watch, from the "sunny" optimism of Day 1 to the ending conceit of Day 500.