Caroline saw this movie the weekend it opened and for once didn’t feel like spilling all my moviegoing thoughts onto this blog. I still don’t particularly feel like it now, but after we poked fun at its “postmodern” nature on The 404 yesterday, I guess I should say something. I actually really liked the unconventional structure: jumpy chronology, reality show-style interviews, a musical number, scenes unfolding in parallel. It was enjoyable. The art direction was lovely. So were the costumes. In fact, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I just went out and bought a very cute blue-and-white flowered blouse.
I suppose watching 500 Days of Summer made me feel awkward and uncomfortable because I’m the sort of person who’s been in both protagonists’ positions over the years. I don’t know if I felt more “I don’t ever want to be that girl” vis-a-vis Zooey Deschanel’s character, or angry at her c’est-la-vie attitude (oh, crap, I just used two French expressions in the same sentence!) for how she can take meaningful emotional interactions for granted like that when I happen to live in a city full of women who seem to be constantly reaching for something significant and only finding indifference. I’ve watched my girl friends go through it. I’ve gone through it.
But that sort of feeling makes me want to see 500 Days again, in a sense, because I think that ambiguity is how we were intended to react. This movie made me think, I guess. Even if it concerned things I didn’t particularly want to think about at the time.
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This is why I had to see it twice as well.
