(500) Days of Summer
Starring: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moretz
Directed by Marc Webb
Rating: M
The tagline for indie film (500) Days of Summer is "This is not a love story. This is a story about love".
And rest assured it isn't. If it's easy, formulaic, "boy meets girl and the wedding bells toll" that you're after, look elsewhere.
This film takes you on the full rollercoaster of loving someone who'll never love you back.
Presented in a scattered chronology, we look at various different days of the 500 that Tom (Gorden-Levitt) spends with his dream girl, Summer (Deschanel).
We see the good moments, mucking around in the shower or laughing through a trip to Ikea, but also the warning signs of a doomed relationship with two people wanting entirely different things.
While journeying with Tom as his tragic obsession intensifies, it becomes impossible not to feel pangs of destined-to-fail love from your own past.
And the age-old question arises: Why the hell do we do this to ourselves?
The film's crushing honesty of raw and desperate love is interspersed with hilarious scenes inspired by mime, musical, animation and a host of other film genres, which adds a touch of humour and irony.
Combine this with a host of strong supporting characters in Tom's friends and sister, and this movie is an edgy, clever romance that I don't recommend seeing straight after a breakup.
4.5 stars
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