(500) Days of Summer is a beautifully made film. It's heart wrenching and soul searching from the beginning to the end. Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is an aspiring architect working as a greeting card writer who meets Summer Finn (Zoe Deschanel) when she is hired at the same company. Through a series of events, the two become a couple and the film chronicles the ups, downs, and finally the end of their relationship together.
This film was astoundingly real. The pain and joy felt by Tom throughout each scene was thorough and cripplingly authentic. (500) Days of Summer is presented to you in a non-linear story line that jumps back and forth through the days of their relationship. Within ten minutes you can see heartbreak, hope, humiliation, and healing. It's remarkably well done.
When it comes down to it, the film is almost a musical. Every scene is punctuated with a song to either lift your mood and cheer for Tom as he struts down the street, or to help you silently mourn for him and wish you could reach through your screen and hug him.
Speaking of which, Tom is an interesting character. Gordon-Levitt plays the perfect young man in search for life, love, and happiness. When we look at this character and really analyze him, he's a rather selfish person. He is so enraptured and enamored with Summer that he puts blinders on himself, and only sees the version of her that's perfect for him. He's not in love with her, but rather the idea of her and what she represents.
The wisest person in (500) Days of Summer is Tom's sister Rachel. Sometimes in life the most knowledgeable people are our closest friends and family members. Because they're close enough to see what's going on, but not blinded my emotion. When Tom reminisces about his time spend with Summer, she says the following:
"Look, I know you think she was the one, but I don't. Now, I think you're just remembering the good stuff. Next time you look back, I, uh, I really think you should look again."
A very cathartic movie all the way through, and definitely worth a watch. Just maybe not fresh after a breakup (sorry Dan, but that's what you get for spoiling The Half-Blood Prince). At it's heart, we can sum up its message in Tom's younger sister as she says "Just because she likes the same bizzaro crap you do doesn't mean she's your soul mate."