(500) DAYS OF SUMMER
Opens In Select Theatres July 17, 2009
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Directed by: Marc Webb
Written by: Scott Neustadter & Michael Weber
Produced by: Mark Waters, Jessica Tuchinsky, Mason Novick, Steven J. Wolfe
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Clark Gregg, Minka Kelly, Matthew Gray Gubler, Rachel Boston, Geoffrey Arend, Chloe Moritz
This is a story of boy meets girl, begins the wry, probing narrator of (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, and with that the film takes off at breakneck speed into a funny, true-to-life and unique dissection of the unruly and unpredictable year-and-a-half of one young man's no-holds-barred love affair.
Tom, the boy, still believes, even in this cynical modern world, in the notion of a transforming, cosmically destined, lightning-strikes-once kind of love. Summer, the girl, doesn't. Not at all. But that doesn't stop Tom from going after her, again and again, like a modern Don Quixote, with all his might and courage. Suddenly, Tom is in love not just with a lovely, witty, intelligent woman – not that he minds any of that -- but with the very idea of Summer, the very idea of a love that still has the power to shock the heart and stop the world.
The fuse is lit on Day 1 – when Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), a would-be architect turned sappy greeting card writer encounters Summer (Zooey Deschanel), his boss's breezy, beautiful new secretary, fresh off the plane from Michigan. Though seemingly out of his league, Tom soon discovers he shares plenty in common with Summer. After all, they both love The Smiths. They both have a thing for the surrealist artist Magritte. Tom once lived in Jersey and Summer has a cat named Bruce. As Tom muses, "we're compatible like crazy."
By Day 31, things are moving ahead, albeit "casually." By Day 32, Tom is irreparably smitten, living in a giddy, fantastical world of Summer on his mind. By Day 185, things are in serious limbo -- but not without hope. And as the story winds backwards and forwards through Tom and Summer's on-again, off-again, sometimes blissful, often tumultuous dalliance it covers the whole dizzying territory from infatuation, dating and sex to separation, recrimination and redemption in a whirl of time jumps, split screens, karaoke numbers and cinematic verve – all of which adds up to a kaleidoscopic portrait of why, and how, we still struggle so laughably, cringingly hard to make sense of love... and to hopefully make it real.
Fox Searchlight Pictures presents (500) DAYS OF SUMMER, a Watermark Production, which marks the feature directorial debut of Marc Webb from a script written by Scott Neustadter and Michael H. Weber (PINK PANTHER 2). The producers are Jessica Tuchinsky, Mark Waters, Mason Novick and Steven J. Wolfe. The team who turned the 500 days of Tom and Summer’s romance into a cinematic whirlwind of ideas includes director of photography Eric Steelberg (JUNO), editor Alan Edward Bell (LITTLE MANHATTAN, THE COMEBACKS), production designer Laura Fox (ALL GOD'S CHILDREN CAN DANCE) and Emmy® nominated costume designer Hope Hanafin (WARM SPRINGS, LACKAWANNA BLUES).
5 stars #####
The movie just came out here in Sweden, and the audience (and me of course)just loved it. I was very disappointed when the Swedish media didn't give 500 days of summer the ratings that I expected. It so much better when the audience is deciding if the movie is worth watching or not, in the end, its us who pays to see this movies. Enjoy your time at the cinema, i really recommend this one!
Cheers
Maddy