(500) Days of Summer

If you’ve heard of the new indie break-a-heart flick (500) Days of Summer then you’ve probably already heard what it’s about. It’s simple: boy falls in love with girl, girl doesn’t. But if the idea of another indie love story straight from Sundance either makes you angry or bores the hell out of you, don’t give up on this one quite yet.

Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is somewhat of a hopeless romantic. Wasting his young days in the binding hands of an L.A. greeting card company (they take their seasons very seriously), he waits for the day he’ll find—you can probably already guess—the one.

That’s when Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel) walks into the office one day as the president’s newest assistant. After a few exchanges, including a Smith’s induced elevator run-in, Hansen slowly finds himself falling deeper and deeper in love with Summer.

But Summer ain’t really having it, and what ensues from there on out is a struggle many find themselves in at least once in their lives: finding, keeping, and reasoning with what true love really is.

A lot of Summer’s relatable nature comes from Tom’s desperate, love-sick conundrum and Summer’s matter-of-fact fear of commitment. Almost all of us have been on either side of that fence (or, for the really lucky ones of us, both), so we understand and invest ourselves in the trails and tribulations of the couple’s unbalanced romance.

The story is honest, unforgiving and relatable all at the same time. The dialogue is clever and the camera work is quirky and absorbing. The music—the true third star of the film—is impressive, too. The film’s director Marc Webb used his experience as a music video director to make a film that was just as driven by its music as it was by its characters and dialogue. From contemporary acts Regina Spektor and The Temper Trap to '80s classics like The Smiths and Hall & Oates, the film’s soundtrack explores a realm of sounds and emotions that serve as vital veins which pump blood throughout the storyline.

The film also boasts a number of animated touches that come to life, from birds to buildings. And while the film is told in a jumbled story line that jumps from Day 290 to Day 1 and then back up again, it still makes perfect sense and gives Summer a refreshing, unconventional feel.

From Tom’s impromptu dance number after getting laid to Summer’s sweet and charming karaoke voice to penis games in the park (it’s not as bad as it sounds), (500) Days of Summer is more than just another topsy-turvy indie heartbreaker. It may be painful to watch at times, but that’s just because it’s so uncomfortably true.

-Matthew Anderson