Anderson Observer

 By Greg Wilson

      There may not be a full 500 reasons you should see (500) Days of Summer, but the first truly original boy meets girl story of the summer season offers the best single reason of all – it has a real heart.

      A story told in an intentionally non-linear fashion, beginning with day 478, and winding back and forth through the pivotal days of the relationship shared by lovelorn greeting card writer (and underachieving architectural school graduate) Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and his new co-worker, the decidedly loopy-elusive-pragmatic Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel).

      Hailed by some as a postmodern “Annie Hall,” and it comes close, this picture points a romantic lens at downtown Los Angeles, of all places, making it seem inviting.  But what makes the story warm is the chemistry between Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel. The ease of each other’s company on the good days, hot and cold battles on the angry days and extended scenes of heartbreaking tension and misunderstanding throughout, have a ring of relational truth so often missing in these kinds of films. It is a relationship marked by seasons, literal and emotional.

 Tom’s relentless belief that the love of a “soul mate” conquers all lands squarely on the uneven sinking ground of Summer’s dark conviction that nobody knows what love is, and that she has never felt it or the need for it. Thus, their zigzag history of days are shot through with Tom’s Phoenix hope that love will rise from the ashes no matter what. It is Tom’s viewpoint we follow, even sometimes with a split screen of his expectations vs. reality. Where many twentysomething romances spotlight the broken heart of the woman, this one is laser shot right through the major artery of the man.Throughout (500) Days of Summer, Tom is reminded that Summer has always kept herself just beyond what he wants from her emotionally. His friends see it, his little sister tells him and even a badly conceived blind date spells it out for him in short order as well. Summer’s fairytale last name, Finn, subtly brings to mind not only the “ other fish in the sea” but “fin” as in finis. All of which is lost on Tom, whose tunnel vision and selective memory of his days with Summer are unblinkingly painful, yet fascinating to watch.

        Visually, first time feature film director Marc Webb dances on the edgy ledge of clever and mostly does not fall off. The mixture of art, complete with seasonal color embellishments, split screen, art-framed shots and point of view angles of the leads is nearly almost spot on, right down the bouncy dream dance sequence early in the film.

The rest of the cast in (500) Days of Summer seems just right, but this is a two-person show, one that shows a fractured picture of infatuation, heartbreak and maybe even a little hope.