(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

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franco · #1 Post by **franco** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:52 am

Why is there no thread on this? If one can get over the lame opening credit sequence, somewhat conventional mise-en-scene, consistently ham-fisted use of music, and nasty jokes on racial stereotypes, then this movie is perfectly adequate life-affirming material for romantic losers (like me) who dream about girls with 1960s-style haircuts (as I do).

I managed to see the movie twice and even managed to like it more the second time. Parts of me even think that there is more emotional truth and wisdom here than anything Woody Allen could offer in the past 30 years. Nevertheless, it's quite a shame that the filmmakers had to choose that god damned overplayed ubiquitous "Quelqu'un m'a dit" from overrated super sk--k Carla Bruni for the only foreign language song. And it's also a shame that Armond hates the movie.

foggy eyes · #2 Post by **foggy eyes** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:45 am

franco wrote:And it's also a shame that Armond hates the movie.

Not really - it means that you could be onto something!

So, the premise is that they break up and don't get back together - and they actually don't?

franco · #3 Post by **franco** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:16 pm

Well foggy, I won't ruin the movie for you! Even though it was recommended to me by a friend who loves Desplechin, Claire Denis, and Lisandro Alonso, I still believe one needs a high tolerance for commercial Hollywood style filmmaking (the "so elaborate but so rigid" routine) to appreciate the movie. Of course, being a romantic loser who likes women with 1960s haircuts also helps.

There are also some kind-of-lame Ingmar Bergman spoofs that could make one smile. They made me smile. At least the filmmakers respect the preferred aspect ratio.

Murdoch · #4 Post by **Murdoch** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 12:21 pm

I remember seeing the trailer for this where it showed a bus filled with Zooey Deschanels and thinking swo's head would explode if he saw it.

#5 Post by **swo17** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 2:27 pm

Heh. Actually, it's been several years now since I've been impressed with one of Zooey's roles (her stint on Weeds notwithstanding), and the trailers for this haven't done much for me. Man though, if you would have tried to sell me on a Zooey/Gordon-Levitt film four years ago, I would have been camped out in front of my local theater for months in advance. We'll see though, I'm still open to having my head exploded.

rs98762001 · #6 Post by **rs98762001** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 4:49 pm

Your head certainly won't explode. You'll be vaguely entertained and irritated in equal measure, and then you'll forget what you've just seen an hour later. There's one nice split scene sequence, and a good performance from JGL and, um...that's about it. At least it's not as terrible as Juno or Little Miss Sunshine in the overpraised-indie-quirk department.

ehimle · #7 Post by **ehimle** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:19 pm

Man though, if you would have tried to sell me on a Zooey/Gordon-Levitt film four years ago, I would have been camped out in front of my local theater for months in advance.

If you had, you probably would've become pretty good friends with the cool cello-playing homeless dude out front (speaking of the broadway, of course).

#8 Post by **swo17** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:31 pm

Ah, the Broadway... 8-)

Tom Hagen · #9 Post by **Tom Hagen** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 5:45 pm

Ha! I saw this film at the Rose Wagoner during Sundance. So no homeless dude playing Bach for me.

knives · #10 Post by **knives** » Sat Aug 08, 2009 7:13 pm

rs98762001 wrote:Your head certainly won't explode. You'll be vaguely entertained and irritated in equal measure, and then you'll forget what you've just seen an hour later. There's one nice split scene sequence, and a good performance from JGL and, um...that's about it. At least it's not as terrible as Juno or Little Miss Sunshine in the overpraised-indie-quirk department.

Pretty much. Can't say I regret the experience, got twenty dollars put of it, But outside of two semi-interesting scenes, even though I suspect I only liked the chalkboard montage due to the song.Maybe if the ZD character was a distant figure, only simply cast by an actor who can act, it may have been an okay update to Annie Hall, but it is now simply a charmless rip of the Allen. The only moment in the entire film where it gains any maturity, introspection or honesty is during a very well done date sequence where JGL's date bitches him out for being a whiny git. I suppose though this is what is popular now.

Antoine Doinel · #11 Post by **Antoine Doinel** » Wed Aug 12, 2009 9:31 pm

I saw this tonight and I really don't see the Woody Allen comparisons at all. I guess because it's about a relationship that doesn't end up working out? It's not like it's even set in NY or has a nervous, self-sabotaging lead character. Where in Annie Hall Woody laments about the one that got away, (500) Days Of Summer are about two people who get along great, but with wildly divergent ideas about what their relationship actually means or what their expectations are. Overall, I thought this was a pleasantly charming and unique film. Sure it has it's problems, particularly the precocious, advice spewing little sister and

SpoilerShow

Tom's cornball big speech when he quits the greeting card company

but the film also gets a lot right. I found myself smiling a lot and really recognizing a lot of the smaller moments in the film as genuine. The film does earn it stripes and thankfully doesn't just ride on its indie-approved soundtrack but actually creates real, honest characters.

Oh, and swo17, the busfull of Zooeys that appears in the trailer is not in the final film so you can probably wait for this one to hit DVD. That said, she does spend almost the entire ninety minutes of the film wearing ridiculously great clothes and looking amazing.

Cheerupemokid · #12 Post by **Cheerupemokid** » Tue Aug 18, 2009 11:51 am

Finally saw this about two weeks ago. I say finally as I've been dying to see it since Sundance, where I was unable to see it because it basically wasn't playing during the 6 days we were there. Overall I liked it, but I was nowhere near as blown away as some of my friends who really loved this movie. It was good, but that's about it. What hit me most about the movie, and actually distracted me quite frankly, was how much at times it looked exactly like a Godard film to me. Yes I know it isn't uncommon for a director's influences to be obvious on the screen, but this was beyond that. This felt too exact to the "influence." That distraction made it hard for me to really get into the story all the way.

Also really didn't enjoy Zooey Deschanel much in this. Not sure if it was the performance or the character, but I really wasn't liking her at all. Other then that though, I thought there were some clever little moments in it (the split-screen scene; the musical number, though admittedly I'm a sucker for a musical number in general) and Joseph Gordon-Levitt is fantastic as usual. Like I said, good movie, not great.

LQ · #13 Post by LQ » Thu Aug 20, 2009 8:18 am

I saw this last night and was surprised at how pleased I was with it. Like Antoine I found it a very genuine story with real characters; it was a testament to the strength of the story and the leads that they shone through the self-conscious cutesiness, which at times was a bit much. See Antoine's complaints above, plus the IKEA foolishness and

SpoilerShow

"I'm Autumn"

Generally speaking though, I was entertained even by the quirks of the movie. One of the things I really liked about the film is that even though we see the relationship through the eyes of the dumpee and naturally are wont to side with him, it didn't vilify Zooey's character for her choices. I appreciated that.

Franco, what nasty jokes about racial stereotypes were in the movie..?

franco · #14 Post by **franco** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 1:51 pm

LQ wrote:Franco, what nasty jokes about racial stereotypes were in the movie..?

Ha... just part of that IKEA silliness, involving a Chinese family. I probably over-reacted since it's quite an accurate portrayal in many ways, although it does irk me that filmmakers make the scene the only one in the movie that focuses on Chinese people.

LQ I am happy you like the movie. Just like you, I quite appreciate the decision to not vilify Zooey's character.

Tom Hagen · #15 Post by **Tom Hagen** » Thu Aug 20, 2009 2:11 pm

I couldn't get into this movie. By the time that I saw the Unknown Pleasures and London Calling t-shirts, watched the couple reading Taschen books in the park, and heard the Smiths, I began to have suspicions that I was a part of a target demographic. Not a sensation I am used to having at the cinema, and one which I found oddly irksome. To me, the characters were "real" only in that they share many of my generation's prefered tastes in music, culture, and fashion. But at the core, the affectations of these characaters are as blatant as anything in Juno or Garden State.

Magic Hate Ball · #16 Post by **Magic Hate Ball** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:31 pm

What's wrong with the IKEA scene?

LQ · #17 Post by LQ » Fri Aug 21, 2009 1:57 pm

eh, I just thought it was too too. Playing "house" just seemed overly forced.

Magic Hate Ball · #18 Post by **Magic Hate Ball** » Fri Aug 21, 2009 5:28 pm

I didn't think that at all, but then again I've done that so maybe it would to someone who hasn't.

thirtyframesasecond · #19 Post by **thirtyframesasecond** » Tue Aug 25, 2009 8:50 am

I saw this yesterday. I like how the narrative was based around memory, very fragmented, not chronological, hopping between days on how Tom recalled his relationship with Summer. The flights of fancy sequences; animation, dance routines to Hall and Oates' "You Make My Dreams" were cute, as were the two leads. However, like much American independent cinema, it's fundamentally dishonest. It wears its contrariness like a badge, as if it's not a routine boy meets girl rom-com. Yet it suffers from all the trappings of a mainstream, conventional film. It ramps up the hipster element to annoying degrees. Did the film makers learn nothing from Garden State? The Smiths conversation in the lift is excruciatingly bad. Plus using Hall and Oates as ironic material when you have rubbish like Regina Spektor's a bit rough. I quite enjoyed it but its flaws are massively obvious, down to the contrived ending.

rohmerin · #20 Post by **rohmerin** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 8:07 am

This film is like a cult movie here... or it's going to be soon or later. After all my doubts about it, I watched last night and I loved it, specially "the label" trouble that I'm suffering too.
Going to IKEA on a couple is universal, oh god

excellent film, may be it's so popular because it works like a self-help guide book or whatever.
By the way, this was the 1st time I found Los Angeles nice, European and human. No offence, but for me it's the least interesting city on Earth.

anvilscepe · #21 Post by **anvilscepe** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 1:32 pm

rohmerin wrote:By the way, this was the 1st time I found Los Angeles nice, European and human. No offence, but for me it's the least interesting city on Earth.

you know what?...ugh, nevermind.

#22 Post by **zedz** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:23 pm

anvilscepe wrote:
rohmerin wrote:By the way, this was the 1st time I found Los Angeles nice, European and human. No offence, but for me it's the least interesting city on Earth.
you know what?...ugh, nevermind.

I guess it depends whether he's talking about Hollywood's version of Los Angeles (about four streets, as far as I can tell) or the real thing.

accatone · #23 Post by **accatone** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:45 pm

I can only say that the "real thing" was (April 2009) one of the weiredest cities i have ever been to. The people (that i met - everything is "awesome!!"), the architecture, the distances(!) and the environment in general (like driving 30min to get to a "nice"/Euro-looking Café(!)) was seriously one of the strangest experiences i ever had. I think for the first time in my life i felt like a real "stranger" (in geographical terms) and that the "go west" is indeed nothing i will strive for…but thats just me and my provincial thinking of course…and has nothing to do with the topic at all - sorry.

Perkins Cobb · #24 Post by **Perkins Cobb** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 4:52 pm

Los Angeles is tourist-proof. You have to live there for a while to understand what's great about it.

anvilscepe · #25 Post by **anvilscepe** » Wed Mar 17, 2010 5:19 pm

zedz wrote:I guess it depends whether he's talking about Hollywood's version of Los Angeles (about four streets, as far as I can tell) or the real thing.

I guess you're right zedz. I shouldn't have jumped to a conclusion. Still, not everything has to be European to be first rate. I mean c'mon!

I'm am done and moving on.

(500) Days of Summer (Marc Webb, 2009)

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