(500) Days of Summer Reviews

500 Days Of Summer es una película que me pega muy fuerte al atravesar una situación similar solo que por incluso mas tiempo. La verdad que es lo que yo necesite saber, oír, y que me lo escupan en la cara, es todo lo que esta película cuenta. Pero viendo como leo mucha gente diciendo estupideces sin sentido de esta cinta tengo ganas de escribir algo al ser una de mis películas favoritas.

Mucha gente llega a malinterpretar la historia o incluso odiarla por el personaje de Summer, la clasifican como una perra o que ella fue la que arruino la relación todo este tiempo al no ser clara desde el inicio. Esto es tan obvio de darse cuenta que no es así con solo pensar que la película esta contada exclusivamente bajo el punto de vista de Tom, y al ser una especie de "chico Incel" es muy fácil que Summer sea visto desde el punto de vista erróneo ya que la información no se nos es dada para que el espectador pueda discernir tan fácilmente. Y si bien parece que Tom le da la razón al final de la película, la verdad es que los dos pudieron madurar a raíz de esa relación toxica.

Y aunque la película sea bajo la perspectiva de Tom, se puede analizar a ambos desde afuera.
Tom es un chico que vive infeliz, o mejor dicho insuficiente, busca el amor desesperadamente pensando que eso es lo que lo llenara, incluso se limita a si mismo en su vida como lo vemos en el trabajo y sus capacidades, todo esto por una mentalidad así. Además de que cae en ese tipo de chico que mencione antes, por lo que llega a pensar que si una mujer no quiere estar con el es una zorra. O cree que cada cosa que haga debe ser bien vista y valorada por ella, como cuando la defiende en el bar peleándose con un tipo cuando ella no lo necesitaba. Es fácilmente identificable o incluso odiable para el espectador, dependiendo si ya atravesaste esta etapa o la estas pasando, y ese es el punto.
Summer como vemos es lo contrario, una chica que por el temprano separamiento de sus padres cree que no esta lista para una relación, su función es mas que nada ser un arquetipo de la chica de ensueño que tanto idealizamos.
Empieza a salir con Tom porque en la escena del bar, tanto el como su amigo la hacen sentir completamente rara con sus comentarios que rozan lo despectivo, y al enterarse de que Tom esta interesado en ella, decide seguir el juego para experimentar con ella misma, aunque siempre establece los limites y dice que no busca nada serio, Tom se hace el que entiende esto pero en realidad no, pone expectativas en ella, se ilusiona y un día de la nada le termina, en ese punto de la película se abre un nuevo panorama donde el protagonista empieza a darse cuenta que las cosas no siempre fueron tan perfectas entre ellos.
Por eso, si bien creo que ambos maduran y ambos cometieron errores, Tom es a mi parecer el que acarrea mas responsabilidad y por eso la mayor evolución esta de su parte.
Además de que gran parte del final, con un Tom ya evolucionado, consiste en ver como el entiende que algo cambio, que Summer ya no existe para el, que es alguien independiente y que ahora lo máximo que el puede ser es el personaje secundario de alguien que antes el sentía vivía y era de el.

Lo mejor es que sus mensajes no corresponden solo al ámbito romántico si no también a la vida y el como es uno mismo.
"Tu felicidad no debe depender de nadie" "Las personas no están para nosotros, coexisten con nosotros" "No pongas en un pedestal a nadie" "No te autodestruyas por amor" Esos, por mencionar unos pocos son algunos mensajes que se pueden rescatar de la película.

Hablando mas de la producción de la película, me gusta mucho su montaje, utiliza bastantes recursos en diferentes puntos de la historia para transmitir lo que quiere de una forma creativa, cuenta con un muy buen uso del color para remarcar a los personajes y sus emociones, desde la presencia del azul para representar distintos temas alrededor de Summer o el contraste que este tiene con el rojo.
No olvidar que la escena de expectativa vs realidad es una maestría en su dirección pudiéndose notar algo a destacar en cada plano.
Tampoco rompe muchos platos en este apartado o revoluciona el cine pero cumple con grandeza para lo que son este tipo de películas y lo que esta quiere decir.

Sinceramente no hay nada que no me guste, diría que me saca de lugar un poco que sea una niña la que le da consejos a Tom en algunos tramos de la cinta. La veo como un recordatorio de los tontos que se ven los problemas de Tom desde afuera, y esta bien, funciono conmigo, pero creo no era necesario ya que la película no necesitaba ser tan explicita con ese tema, ya se entendía.

Pero bueno, amo esta película, me parece una genialidad en su genero por el como te hace reflexionar sobre tus propios comportamientos y abarca un tema tan grande como lo es la idealización en el amor.
Creo que muchísimos tuvimos una Summer en nuestra vida. Yo, sin que me correspondiera, llegue a sufrir muchísimas cosas por las que pasa Tom donde atravesé por el momento mas depresivo de mi vida.
Para colmo, fueron mas de 500 días. Pero siempre puede salir el sol, siempre se puede mejorar como persona para así poder retomar desde el día 1.

Una forma realista de mostrar las relaciones actuales y deprimente desarrollo a diferencia de otras peliculas de ese estilo

On the surface, 500 Days of Summer seems like an another pop-culture filled film about two young adults meeting and falling in love shot in a TV commercial-esque manner or a very, very long music video. Peek a little closer and you will realize it is intelligent, funny, suave and colourful. And totally different than most other comedy-drama's of its time. Two different personalities meet and often clash with each other. One believes in love and the other doesn't. There are so many similarities between this and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind that I think 500 Days is a prequel to it, which of course, it's not. The energy of the film is unmissable and the characters are very well written, both major and minor. I now understand fully the hype behind it and I'm now in love with it, totally. Even though it is mostly comedy, it manages to cram in many other genres in its 95 minute running time. The best 95 minutes I've ever seen, for that matter.

I mean, now this is a very sophisticatedly made film with two extremely well written and well acted characters in the lead. Either you end up hating them or loving them, you cannot say the journey you spent with them was boring. The supporting duo's, McKenzie and Paul, contribution to the film is also unavoidable. Loved their characters and the things they said. So basically, 500 Days is like watching a magician on-stage; His main aim is to leave you speechless but manages to make you feel otherwise as well.

From the performances, Joseph Gordon-Lewitt gets a thumbs up from me. His portrayal of Tom Hansen reminded me of Jim Carrey from Eternal Sunshine and Edward Norton from Fight Club. He handled it greatly and stayed true to his character till the very end. An impressive performance indeed. Then we have Zooey Deschanel as Summer Finn. This is the first time I'm seeing her on-screen and I must say, I was taken aback by her tackling of the character. She bought a lot of shade and mood in her character which reminded me of a young Ginger Rogers. From the supporting, Matthew Gray Gubler and Geoffrey Arend, as Paul & McKenzie, respectively, were awesome. They were very fun to watch and each had their funny moments.

In all, 500 Days of Summer is a very intelligent comedy-drama film that will leave you pleased. That being said, they should now make a sequel; 500 Days of Autumn.

8.0/10

Interesting the tematic of the movie. It reveals very good the sentiment which many people live: fear of getting involved and getting hurt (especially after two traumatic experiences or even in their own household). But if do not get involved how to know it? Life is so short... is it worth your time hiding behind a supposed protective security?

I absolutely ADORE this movie.

At the very beginning of the delightful, wonderfully bittersweet 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, we see a disclaimer that we're used to seeing at the end of a film's credits: that all of the characters are fictitious, and any resemblance to real-life people is purely coincidental. This is followed by an additional statement that will make people laugh, but more importantly, it sets a mood of acerbic humor that will prevail throughout most of the film. The laughs in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER aren't the belly laughs that you'd get from the average, gag-infested romantic comedy; the laughs here are punctuated with a sense of sympathy (and very often pain) for the main character... a guy. That's right: despite being categorized as a romantic comedy (which is arguable), 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is told from the male point of view, which is something we see so rarely.

This film is far too deep and observant to be considered a "chick flick." In fact, as the narrator says, and as you already know if you've seen the trailer, "this isn't a love story." That obviously depends on what your definition of a "love story" is, but the narrator's statement makes sense because 500 DAYS OF SUMMER isn't as much about the unfolding of the relationship between the two leads as it is about their extremely divergent perspectives on love, and how the clashing of those perspectives impacts both of them in very extreme ways. If this film were simply about "the story of Tom and Summer," it would follow a linear sequence of events. However, this movie is more of an examination of feelings within particular moments in time, and how these feelings can change so radically, which is why the film elects to show things out of order... BUT, for the love of God, don't let that dissuade you from seeing it because, surprise of surprises, the technique works remarkably well in this movie, as I'll explain later.

Although Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) studied architecture, he works at one of those Hallmark-type companies, where he's in charge of coming up with what many would think are the nauseating messages that we find in congratulatory and romantic greeting cards. He's a full-on romantic, and he's apprehensive about the possibility of never finding "the one." Tom's boss hires a new assistant, Summer (Zooey Deschanel), and although Tom is immediately struck by her, he's too shy to engage her, and it's not until a karaoke party to which all of the office's employees are invited that Tom and Summer, after having a few drinks, get to know each other on a deeper level. Much to his chagrin, Tom discovers that Summer doesn't believe in true love: "I don't feel comfortable being anyone's anything. It just causes pain." While she has a point, this doesn't deter Tom's growing feelings for her, and once they first kiss (in a cleverly staged and perfectly awkward moment in the photocopy room), they sort of come to an agreement: Summer warns him that what they have is "nothing serious," and Tom pretends like he's okay with that. The average movie would then progress to portray a linear sequence of the development of Tom and Summer's relationship. However, 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is better than that: it covers the "500 days" from Tom meeting Summer on day #1 to the film's final scene on day #500, but in the process of doing so, it will often go forwards and backwards between days. This may seem like it would be confusing. Why does it work tremendously well in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER?

The film chooses to focus on contrasts between the "stages" of a relationship, and in order to establish those contrasts, it's unnecessary to show the stages in sequence (in fact, as we notice during the film, it's often more effective to go from what happened later to what happened first). In the case of Tom and Summer, we realize early on that the relationship imploded right around day #300, so whenever the film goes to a day after #300, we know that the mood is going to be different. The best example of how effective these contrasts I mentioned are is an instance in which, first, we see something that happened in the later stages of the relationship, where Tom and Summer are at IKEA and Tom is joking about the dishwashers not working, while Summer is acting stoically... THEN, we rewind to the first few months that they were together, and we see Tom and Summer at IKEA messing around and pretending like all of the furniture is part of a house they're living in, and of course, Tom is on cloud nine during this entire moment. There's never going to be any doubt in the viewers' minds that Tom is submerged in his love for Summer; in one of the film's later scenes, he walks by her on a train without actually seeing her, but we can tell that he immediately knew that it was her. Unfortunately for him, Summer's focus on keeping things on a non-serious level doesn't bode well for the chances of the couple staying together.

While there is an enormous amount of emotional insight to be found in essentially every scene of 500 DAYS OF SUMMER, there is a sequence in particular that has to be singled out for its incredible brilliance. Just like the technique of showing events out of order, the "split-screen" technique is one I've never been a fan of either, because it's not often possible to keep track of what's happening on both sides, and there may even be a tendency to want to just look at one of the two sides and ignore the other. Such is not the case during a wonderfully fluid sequence in 500 DAYS OF SUMMER in which the left side is titled "Expectations" and the right side is titled "Reality." The sequence takes place during a party that Tom and Summer attend and, as you may have figured out already, the "expectations" part shows the way Tom would've liked the party to unfold, and the "reality" part shows, well, the sad truth. This segment of the film is put together in a way that it is not difficult to analyze what is happening on both sides: it is presented in a completely fluid way with perfectly appropriate music to boot. This sequence, combined with the pitch-perfect approach taken towards the way in which the days are shown to us, is evidence that the work done in the editing room was absolutely terrific.

Earlier in the film, there's a montage sequence which takes place the day after Tom and Summer first have sex, and it involves Tom happily ambling on the street. The decision to have the montage was appropriate because 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is largely about Tom's varying emotional states, but the way the montage is put together is one of the two small quibbles I have with the film. Put simply, it's too cute; it involves an exaggerated amount of dancing, and features Tom interacting with some animated birds, which are blue, by the way, which I suspect was done partly as a result of the camera's apparent obsession with Zooey Deschanel's eyes.

The other quibble I have involves the film's final scene. While the name that is revealed in the film's final line caused an uproar of laughter in the movie theater (and I admit was among the people cracking up), it's hard to ignore that it's a contrivance, and it actually seems like the type of contrivance that would beg for a sequel (which would be unnecessary - 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is a wonderful movie that needs no following up). Despite that, though, I do very much appreciate the film's sudden philosophical shift (which is made clear by the narrator) in terms of the "fate vs. coincidence" dilemma. The fact that this happens leaves the door open for interpretation, which means that everyone will not come out of the film having drawn the same conclusions.

While this film isn't entirely light-hearted, there are plenty of hilarious moments, which is why this is actually one of the most light-hearted films that Joseph Gordon-Levitt has taken part in, and while his roles during the last few years have been darker, that doesn't stop him from giving an emotionally devastating performance here; Tom's vulnerability is constantly palpable in every scene of the film. There's a moment later in the film (during a meeting at the office) when Tom's sense of disillusionment towards love blatantly manifests itself, and the moment could've easily been over-the-top, but Gordon-Levitt avoids that at all costs. Several of the reviews that have criticized Zooey Deschanel's performance have done so on the erroneous basis that Summer is an "unlikable" character. However, it should be noted that, since we're rooting for Tom to be happy, and Summer's stance on love is hindering that, it's not exactly going to be easy to LIKE her (though I did). So, to be fair, the sense of disgust may be more towards the character than the performance, and I think that Deschanel's work as the title character was remarkable.

On a personal level, I felt deeply engrossed in the conflict of ideas exchanged by the two protagonists due to their opposite views on love/relationships. I usually profess to share Summer's perspective that true love doesn't exist, that it's better to just enjoy things while they last, and that there's no need to find "the one" in order to be happy... but the truth is that I'm really a romantic at heart. That's the reason why, as I said last year in regard to IN SEARCH OF A MIDNIGHT KISS, this is my kind of movie: perceptive about relationships, emotionally searing, with characters who are more than compelling and easy to feel pain for. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER is one of the best films of the year.

A highly intelligent, unique and original romantic-comedy-drama with great turns from Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel.

Starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Clark Gregg, Chloe Moretz.

Let me start off with this, romantic comedies usually always suck. The main character is usually the girl, and she's usually dumb, blond, or both. But (500) Days of Summer was a unique addition to the romantic comedy genre. For one, the characters are easy to relate to. Another thing that separates this movie from other Romantic Comedies is it's actually funny. And not funny because it's bad either. My favorite part was the expectations/reality scene. I don't think anyone in the history of cinema has ever done anything like that. Before I saw this, a lot of people were saying it was snubbed at the Oscars, and I agree. It was a great movie, but a lot of times the academy doesn't pick the best movies. My suggestion is: If you are not an emotionless troll, see this movie. 8.9