Movie Review

"It's Love, it's not Santa Clause"

Sadia Afrin Arin

THE movie “500 Days of Summer”, directed by Marc Webb, starts with a gentle man saying “this is not a love story”…”this is a story of boy meets girl”. It is love at first sight for Tom (Joseph Gordon Levitt), who falls in love with Summer (Zooey Deschanel) when she walks into the greeting card company, where Tom works and she joins here as his boss's new assistant. But it's not that easy because it is 'Love' and it always has to have some problems, isn't it? Summer is kind an independent girl, who does not believe in love and relationships. She believes romance is not for her. Well many girls may think the same way in real life, especially those who experience failed have 'true love'.

In this movie we can see that Summer wants friendship but not suffocating romance. After watching this, I wondered how romance could be suffocating? Well I have no idea! Summer represents a mysterious character throughout the movie.

These two main characters are completely different in this movie. Tom thinks Summer is the perfect woman to live happily with and according to Summer love, romance and relationship are not for her though men are always attracted to her. Tom is from New Jersey, working in L.A., writing greeting cards even though he is an architect by training. Tom and Summer have a relationship more than like friends. Through the troubles of Tom and Summer's so-called relationship, Tom always shares his feelings about Summer with his two best friends, McKenzie and Paul.

I liked the conversation between Tom and Summer most when Tom asks her “what happens when you fall in love?” and she replies casually “you believe in that?” Tom gives a very beautiful answer as he says “Its love, it's not Santa Clause”. Yes, love is definitely not Santa Clause, which is something “illusory” and love is not. Love is something we encounter in real life and it is obviously 'real', at least I believe so.

Tom is so much in love with Summer and loves everything about her but unfortunately Summer does not want to go for a love relationship with him. One day at a bar he even punches a guy, who tries to flirt with Summer. That guy also beat him and after that Summer took Tom to her apartment, where they have a fight about their relationship. Tom was never hopeless about his love unless Summer introduce her fiancé to him. Tom starts feeling depressed but he does not stop his life there, which is the most positive point of this movie. He moves on with life and in the last part, at an interview he meets a girl and after a short conversation with her, he asks her to have coffee with him. The girl he met is Autumn. I think the best part of this movie is that after going through failed love he did not stop and no one should stop, really. There are obviously ups and downs in everyone's life and 'break-ups' are just a part of it. So, what we have to do is just move on with life with all these bittersweet experiences that life has to offer to us.