My Take On (500) Days of Summer

 

Emotionally, the movie surpassed my expectation in the way it brings out laughter and tears simultaneously in a course of a one-and-half-an-hour rollercoaster ride, literally. If you think about it, Tom started his early ride with Summer cheerfully expectant. Those romantic flowery days is like going up up and up in a rollercoaster, you believe everything is gonna be a fun ride since you’re with the person you love the most, not knowing that halfway through the ride, she start screaming her way out of the relationship, and before you know it, it already crushes you so much that it faints you and wobble your days, only to find at the end of the ride, you are back at square one. Zip. None. Nothing. No love. No us.

I remember I tweet this right after watching the movie: “reality has never been so real and honestly presented in a movie”. So real, that there’s a point in the movie where I believe I am Tom Hansen. No kidding, I can relate in so many ways with the character. The out-of-the-universe (stratosphere level of out-of-the-blue) breakup. The fact that Summer has made Tom’s days amazingly beautiful while at the same time managed to keep it ‘casual’. This is the agony. Tom is merely an option for Summer, while Summer is simply everything to him. I guess we’ve all done our share of ‘dumped’. Also, I guess part of the reason why it feels real to me is the anonymity of the cast. Both, Joseph Gordon Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are perfect for the part. I don’t know them before this movie. That allows me to see this is as everyday ordinary guy meets everyday extraordinary girl.

And this just came to me, the whole movie is presented from Tom’s angle of the story. I would really really like to see sort-of the counterpart of the movie, where the story unfolds from Summer’s point of view. That would be interesting. I’d like to know what’s in her head, what rushes through her heart while they were spending those delightful times together, the happy times you know, and what made her so easy to bring it to an end with the vaguest reason. I guess that would be appropriately titled (500) Days of Fling. I sound very subjective, aren’t I? No offense. Haha. And this what I meant vague.

All in all, this is an awesomely written movie. The way it rolled out, jumping from one days to another, the honesty, and of course the message it brings. Tom learned the hard way about relationship, breakup, and eventually moving forward. I vote this to be one of the top movie in 2009. And personally, I put this numero uno in top movies about breakup, preceding John Cusack’s High Fidelity and Jim Carrey's Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind.

To close, here’s one of my favorite quote from the movie:

“I guess you’re only looking at the good stuff, make you sure you don’t miss the bad ones next time you look back”.

From that point forward, a new Tom find his revelation, learned to let go, and finally open up for brand new love. IMDB gave it 8.1. Rottentomato gave it 86%. I gave it FOUR AWESOME THUMBS. Very recommended.

Smile on, Shine on!