Review of (500) Days of Summer (2009) by A.j. B — 23 Aug 2012

Marc Webb's directorial debut is a vintage-inspired tale of a boy meets girl. The production is clean-cut, sleek and sophisticated with its richly nostalgic backdrop of 1950's style. From the impression making wardrobe choice of the leads to the artsy background setting of the City of Angels (featuring some of the city's finest old buildings and beautiful skyscrapers), these are the elements that have successfully designed and tailored the film into a memorable romance piece.

The tone, the surrounding colours plus its easy-on-the-ears indie soundtracks are just some of the essentials enhancing the film's aesthetic value. It's simple yet mellow in artistic value. While the non-chronological narration is clever, creative and contrasting, the storyline is painfully constructed with utter honesty as it completely bares the worst by love.

Relationship realism is blended with fantasy scope of self-imagination, obsession and subsequently a love gone bad into some kind of a possession of an idea of a person. The protagonists are portrayed as two everyday people searching and living their very own idea of love, resulting a violent escalation of emotional torments and self-destructive paths.

The chemistry between Gordon-Levitt and Deschanel is raw, passionate and so real that you wouldn't even believe that this pair of on-screen lovebirds are actually NOT dating in real life. While Gordon-Levitt's character is an offbeat echo to all the real-life examples out there, Deschanel mirrors none as she stood by firmly on her quirky side with her kooky charm and that mesmerizing pair of beady eyes.

In conclusion, (500) Days of Summer is a meticulously-structured intelligent story carried along in an electrifying manner by two very charming leads set in a modern visual landscape of vintage architectures and indie flavors.

Definitely my all time favourite since the story itself can be a flexible reference relating to real-life situations.