Independent Film Festival Boston 2009

Marc Webber’s debut film deconstructs and reconfigures a classic story of unrequited love into an engaging, fresh, and energetic mosaic. Spanning the arc of a relationship from inception to conclusion (not necessarily in that order), 500 DAYS OF SUMMER depicts the collision between Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), an awkward greeting-card copywriter and hopeless romantic, and Summer (Zooey Deschanel), a temp in his office, whose offbeat approach to intimacy is markedly less committal than his.

Told from the perspective of Tom, this cinematic account of his feelings during the brief but affecting affair covers the gamut from euphoria to dismal heartbreak. The couple’s contemporary dilemma is illustrated with stylish visual devices––including the use of split screens, musical numbers, and nonlinear time––that fully exemplify Tom’s heightened and exaggerated emotional state.

500 DAYS OF SUMMER risks veering into cloying territory, but manages to stay the course. It never lapses into simple, pat solutions, but rather presents the complexity of this relationship (and, by extension, all relationships), elevating the simple plot. At the core of this unorthodox romantic film, Gordon-Levitt’s and Deschanel’s charming performances are matched with clever writing and steady direction, punctuated by a unique visual style. The result is a compelling model of modern romance.

- Callista Burns