500 Days of Summer wasnât my favorite movie, but I have to commend it for its artistic takes.
Also I like Zooey Deschanel, not quite on the level in which I like Emily Deschanel, but thatâs just because I love Bones so dearly.
Anyway the artistic takes. (Obligatory spoiler warning but also obligatory this movie is almost 17 years old so I donât really care that much about spoilers) I like that the day counter constantly is utilized to a point where you absolutely have to be paying attention to follow it. As someone who struggles with attention to things this was really good for me (I also think itâs good in general).
I like that they chose to make the old film reel style thing that some movies or shows utilize in that start of the movie/episode a thing through out, and that it wasnât just used as the usual visual way to show people younger or used as a visual way to display a gag. Itâs a major part of the movie as opposed to just being an intro gimmick and I thought that was interesting, but I only really thought it paid off or worked(?) I guess(??) once they did that âexpectationâ/ârealityâ thing.
I enjoyed that they took the time to think of a screen for the day counter that was neutral enough to not influence a mood, yet interesting enough to work with the color palettes and feel of the movie as a whole. Itâs not made to explain the rollercoaster of emotions weâre supposed to see or feel with Tom, itâs made to tell us what day it is. Some segues in media adjust the style or feel to fit the mood weâre walking into, but I like that this one didnât (probably because the days change so fast thereâs no time for that but either way it works). I do like that when it did focus on the mode it was subtle yet brilliant in that it used the numbers as a device.
I liked the look and feel they put into Summers apartment, I only wish theyâd done more with it. I get the point was âshe doesnât let just anyone into her world so this is a limited glanceâ but I wanted more.
I also think we couldâve had more on the IKEA front. Make it more of a prominent fixture in the film and their situation-ship instead of adding random âgoing to the moviesâ bits that just felt like they added them for the sole purpose of ârelationships need more substance and they need to do more thingsâ, which would totally be a valid reason to add any of those sort of scenes, but in this case it felt unnecessary.
I went into this only seeing to romanticized on social media and I have to say, there is way more substance to it and why doesnât anyone ever use those more substance scenes in edits. Why are we shipping and romanticizing a pair thatâs whole points is some people donât work?
My final assessment is that i would watch this again if someone had it on, but Iâm not reaching for it. Itâs not as influential or aesthetic as the internet made it out to be. It exists in its space and it fills it well but itâs sized for that space and nothing more nothing less.
The film itself is about a 7/10, the artistic mess of it is either a 9/10 or an 11/10, I canât decide yet.
















