Sunday, July 19, 2009

(500) Days of Summer (Sunday, July 19, 2009) (95)

I went into this movie expecting to be annoyed by its painful hipness and saccharine romantic non-lovstoryness. All the advance press I saw and heard about it made me cringe. The soundtrack was apparently *so very important* and the director gave the actors ipods with moody tracks on them to get them in the right frame of mind. Oh - and the couple is doomed because they both love the music of the very unlucky-in-love Smiths. Bah! I have to admit, however, that I was pleasantly surprised by the final product, which was a very mature, fun and interesting take on a romantic-ish comedy.

The story is told in a choppy way where we jump around in time looking at different points (different days) in the relationship between and young man and young woman. Through the course of the film, we get the full chronology and understand the relationship pretty well. They meet in the office, he falls in love with her; she is oblivious to him. They rather fall for each other, but she doesn't want to be in a relationship. They break up and try to be friends and see what happens next.

The soundtrack is an important part of the film. It's quirky and clever featuring songs by the Smiths, Regina Spektor, Feist and Simon and Garfunkle (to name a few). They all add to the interesting atmosphere of the film - somewhat nostalgic and retro and also very ultra hip(ster). I must say, I could have done with a bit less hipster skinny retro fashion. It felt a bit forced and silly at times.

The acting is generally very good. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is great and his performance here is as good as his work in Mysterious Skin, Brick and the Lookout. He plays very well with Zooey Deschanel, who has always been cute, but actually pulls off a good performance here. He comes over very honestly as a wide-eyed optimist and hopeless romantic; she is a very believable modern urbanite who doesn't believe in conventions like 'relationships' and 'love'. (In her one scene, Minka Kelly, Lila Garrity from Friday Night Lights, is very good too).

Overall I'm rather impressed by the direction by Marc Webb. At times it does feel a bit showy and trite, but there are some very fresh moments too. There were some clever post-modern touches from the first moments where a voice over says that this is *not* a love story and Brechtian titles throughout. There is some very nice use of split-screens including a clever 'fantasy/reality' sequence.
The use of music and animation is very nice and effective.

I guess lots of people (reviewers and viewers) are talking about the interesting dynamic here where the man and woman switch typical gender roles so the man is the romantic and the woman is the dispassionate rationalist unable to love easily. I feel, however that there's not much to this role twist - knowing this switch doesn't really change my feelings about the characters much or make them particularly more interesting. It's a bit of an obtuse detail, honestly.

Overall this is a nice movie. I would absolutely watch it again - partly for the interesting style and partly for the great acting and the dynamic relationship between Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel. I think there are some corny moments in it, but there are a lot of nice moments too. It is romantic, yes, but it is also realistic and set totally in our world. That's a nice change.


Stars: 3 of 4

2 comments:

  1. Nice? I spent the entire film slack-jawed with pleasure over JGL. Is he the perfect man? Why yes, he is. So delightful and great chemistry with ZD. I found the story very sophisticated and of-the-moment and yet classic/timeless. His buddies were just buddies, happily, not joke-meisters or "types." (As in the awful roomies of Funny People.) The structure kept it fresh without interfering. A gem.

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  2. Yes - totally - a nice movie and not as twee as I thought it would be... JGL is one of the most under-appreciated actors around now. He's great (even when he's playing a straight dude).

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