There are two types of movies that stand out from among the many types of movies made and watched:
Yesterday, I watched it for the second time. It’s awesome how you live/relive multiple lifetimes while watching certain movies.
I got angrier when Summer finally marries another guy when she adopts Tom’s belief in soul mates, love, and fate. She reveals this to Tom while they are sitting in Tom’s favorite spot in the city. Tom says that he can never understand how she can feel something for another guy which she never felt for him! Even I couldn’t.
Though most of the movie is shown from Tom’s perspective, a balanced viewer can see Summer’s side too. There is even a scene where the screen is split into to two: one showing Tom’s expectations and the other showing reality!
Summer always looked upon Tom as her best friend with whom she can share anything: secrets, time, sex, window shopping, etc. Acts and activities that Tom misunderstood as intimacy, romance, and love. There are plenty of scenes where Tom’s friends and sister tries to show him the truth and reality and he just refuses to believe that Summer does not love him. He roots for his stupid belief that because he loves her so much and so consummately, there is no way that she does not love him back! Most of us have been there and done that, right?
I saw Summer as a free-thinking, independent, and fun-loving girl who lives life in the present moment and does whatever she feels. Summer was always honest with him and, in the beginning of their relationship, had already revealed to him that she does not believe in love and she was looking for a casual relationship. Her relationships were not bound by generic labels and boundaries put down by the majority. For example, for her being friends with Tom also included having quality and experimental sex with him. But she never lied to him.
The movie also shows that once you set up a premise, a background… you can tell a story in a non-linear sequence because life and memory is a string of events, which may not necessarily move along with passage of time and space. Events in life may not have a cause-and-effect relationship. Memories may not be stored sequentially.
If you were in love, (500) Days of Summer is a must-watch. And then, please watch it again and again.
- A movie that is so complete that you should watch it only once; repeated viewing may spoil the experience.
- A movie that grows on you every time you watch it. Repeated viewing reveals a bit of your own self. (500) Days of Summer belongs to the latter category.
The first time I had watched it, I was rooting for Tom.
I could relate to him. It was like random incidents from my love lives being played out in front of me and I was all out supporting Tom. I wanted him to be happy even though the movie hinted otherwise. I was disappointed with Summer not being able to love Tom the way he loved her.I got angrier when Summer finally marries another guy when she adopts Tom’s belief in soul mates, love, and fate. She reveals this to Tom while they are sitting in Tom’s favorite spot in the city. Tom says that he can never understand how she can feel something for another guy which she never felt for him! Even I couldn’t.
Yesterday, I felt miserable for Tom.
I could see the other side.Though most of the movie is shown from Tom’s perspective, a balanced viewer can see Summer’s side too. There is even a scene where the screen is split into to two: one showing Tom’s expectations and the other showing reality!
Summer always looked upon Tom as her best friend with whom she can share anything: secrets, time, sex, window shopping, etc. Acts and activities that Tom misunderstood as intimacy, romance, and love. There are plenty of scenes where Tom’s friends and sister tries to show him the truth and reality and he just refuses to believe that Summer does not love him. He roots for his stupid belief that because he loves her so much and so consummately, there is no way that she does not love him back! Most of us have been there and done that, right?
I saw Summer as a free-thinking, independent, and fun-loving girl who lives life in the present moment and does whatever she feels. Summer was always honest with him and, in the beginning of their relationship, had already revealed to him that she does not believe in love and she was looking for a casual relationship. Her relationships were not bound by generic labels and boundaries put down by the majority. For example, for her being friends with Tom also included having quality and experimental sex with him. But she never lied to him.
The movie also shows that once you set up a premise, a background… you can tell a story in a non-linear sequence because life and memory is a string of events, which may not necessarily move along with passage of time and space. Events in life may not have a cause-and-effect relationship. Memories may not be stored sequentially.
If you were in love, (500) Days of Summer is a must-watch. And then, please watch it again and again.
3 comments:
Nicely written, Abhi Mani. But Love does at times blind us to see the reality. but then it helps to go beyond what you see.
Nice review. Even roger cudn't have done better
Ani swami:
Little too much only you are. The thing about Roger couldn't have done better is taken with a pinch of salt. :-)
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