(500) Days of Summer

Note:  I don't think the filmmakers wanted anyone to put pictures of their movie anywhere because they sure made it difficult for me to get pictures.  These are the thumbnails from Internet Movie Database

(500) Days of Summer was both a good wallow in self-pity, and a sweet love story that wasn't really about love at all.

There is the style of the story, the story itself, the characters, and the actors who play the characters.

If you liked "Pushing Daisies" you'd like the style of this story. Except, this one didn't push the envelope so much that it was annoying. There was a narrator but he wasn't overused. +1.

In many places the movie was a mixed media presentation - except that the media was all film. They used some film devices we could all relate to...drunken karaoke, oldtime movie drama, a joyous "I'm in Love" song and dance number in the park, etc. Each 'out of the story' moment was an effort to describe the inner feelings of the character in a way that made sense to the intended audience - people who grew up on television and pop culture. Again, not overdone. +1

I felt I was a little too old for the story. Not because its not a tale as old as time. I don't know - it just wasn't made for me. And in that sense, I was moderately bored. There was a lot of time spent in the setup and jumping around to 'days' of Summer, and watching Tom be morose and sad or happy. That's where the conceit part comes in. I think the author is quite taken with his take on how he dealt with this really powerful, romantic, sad, life-changing event in his life. I haven't read anything about the movie yet so I don't know if that's the story or not. It felt like it. Especially since the beginning of the movie starts with an author's note in which he makes clear that this is a fictional story and any resemblance to real people is purely coincidental...except Jenny Brickman (?). And then they write 'bitch' up on the screen. While I don't assume Jenny Brickman is real to the author, the feeling must be. And that's why its a movie. Because although the movie feels like the writer is trying to deal with this event in his life, the reason its a movie is because everyone goes through this kind of anguish and sadness and has a love story that could be similar.

Given that I think the movie was made for a different crowd, I'm cool with all this.

The other style characteristic that was important in the filmmaking was the jumping around to the different 'days' of Tom dealing with his relationship, including the pre and post parts.  Its popular to do right now - time shifting to make a point or to look at events with new or updated knowledge.  I'm not sure it was all that important to this story.  But, they really wanted to be inventive with the movie so there you are.  It wasn't that bad.  It just didn't add that much to the story.

The actors are personable and do a wonderful job with the main characters. Both Joseph-Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel make the story seem a little like a documentary because they acted so naturally. Neither one was too much in any one characterization - they were real three dimensional people (most of the time...the Tom character did have some pretty stereotypical moments, but I blame that on the cliche of the story rather than the acting).

I liked both of them a great deal and feel that's what made the movie. In fact, they're what made me interested in seeing the movie. +2

And what was the message or theme of the movie?  You don't know what love is until it hits you.  Sometimes it doesn't even hit people at the right times.   Most importantly, coincidence is fate when you look BACK at it from the distance of time.  That's the most important thing.  You can't be in the midst of something and call it fate or destiny.  You can only do that afterward, looking back.  (To me, that means there's no such thing as fate or destiny.   Its perception of events.)

I'm glad I saw the movie. I was one of 5 people in the audience (it was a matinee) and there were laughs at one time or another by all.

I'm going to do some internet poking around to see what I can find out about the movie. If anything new comes up or I'm reminded of something else, I'll add it to this post.