500 Days of Summer

500 days of summer

500 Days of Summer is a very unconventional love story. It was directed by Marc Webb and was released in 2009. This film is a very modern take on romance and unlike the other films I have watched, the couple do not end up together. The story is about a young couple who meet at work. The boy, Tom falls madly in love with Summer, the girl, at first sight. Tom is a hopeless romantic, however, Summer is a cynic and doesn't believe in love, she wants to keep their relationship casual. They spend a lot of time with each other and you feel that they might actually end up together, but one day Summer decides to break up with Tom. Tom is devastated and finds it difficult to get over Summer. Eventually Tom does gets over Summer and is happy and Summer gets married. This love story shows the modern view that although you may fall madly in love someone it doesn't always work and life gets in the way. Tom and Summer's affair isn't their 'happily ever after' but it helps them grow as people and makes them better prepared for the next relationship.

The story is told in a non-linera narrative, the timeline jumps all over the place and tells the story in an unusual order. The film is also narrated and the scenes are separated with a countdown on an illustrated screen. The narration and the countdown are really effective. The countdown helps the audience understand where we are in the story, for example when we are on day 50 they are aware that Tom and Summer have effectively known each other for 50 days and if the back ground is bright and sunny then the scene they are about to see is happy but if it is dull and raining then they are in a low point of their relationship. The narrator also gives us an insight into their relationship, he explains to the viewer what is happening and how they feeling. This is really effective, the audience feel involved in the relationship because they know extra personal information. This film also uses colour and lighting really well to convey the emotions and mood in a scene. When the scene is happy, for example when Tom and Summer are in a park looking across the LA skyline there is high key lighting and bright fresh colours. This gives the shot an atmosphere of calm relaxed happiness. In contrast, when they break up in a diner the lighting is duller and they used muted colours like green and brown. This gives the shot a feeling of depression and misery.

Another effective technique used, is the split screen. In one sequence they show Tom's expectations and the reality next to each other. This is a really clever way of showing the audience an insight into Tom's head, they get see what he wants to happen and what really happens and how disappointed he is. The film is set in LA and is quite a simple set and scenery, this is to show how normal the characters are. They meet in a normal office with desks and computers, they go to the cinema together and drink in average bars. This lack of glamour makes it easy for the audience to relate to the couple.

The music in this film is also really effective, the music is modern and fits the mood of the scenes really well and emphasises the emotions perfectly. There are a lots of close ups in this film to show small reactions and emotions on they characters' faces, or to show the beauty of the girl Summer. I think close ups are used a lot in love story films, as they show subtle emotions and they are very personal. The sex scenes in this film were very understated and there is no nudity, it is defiantly implied that they sleep together and there are jokes about shower sex but you don't actually see anything. I think this is effective as the audience are aware that their relationship is physical but there is a mystery about it as they are not shown much. I think this makes it more romantic.