When I first took those first tentative steps into true movie love, there were a few genres that I shied away from. The first few steps taken between the cinema and I were a little awkward as there were only couple of levels on which we could connect. You know, there was the initial attraction for science fiction, horror, and action, then comedy and drama, then the branches started to move outwards towards foreign films and martial arts. Those early years saw me avoid westerns and romances. I did not think those genres held much for me. Of course, as in many things, I was wrong. Westerns came first, with movies like Tombstone helping to win me over. The tango with romance went on a bit longer. I cannot quite tell you what title it was that cemented my enjoyment, but it is there somewhere.
However, like with any relationship, things have been rocky, as the romance film (usually paired with comedy) proved to be as formulaic and predictable as your average slasher film, perhaps even more so. Now along comes (500) Days of Summer, and with it the potential savior of romance as a genre. All right, that may sound a little melodramatic, extreme, and not terribly close to reality, but for me this movie carries a lot of weight. It has an original voice, a fresh feel, and is completely involving. I wanted to spend time with these characters; they felt real.
The movie's early moments feature voice-over introducing us to our two central characters, Tom Hansen (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer Finn (Zooey Deschanel). We are also told that while this is a story of "boy meets girl," it is not a love story. That is not entirely true; it is just not a traditional love story. It is a great story of the search for love, and the uncertainty related to whether or not it even exists. The movie is not about giving you the answers. It is about giving you reason to think about your beliefs and how there are no answers; that what happens will happen regardless of what you may believe or think to be true.
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