This is not a love story.
This is about me being in love with a movie named, "500 Days of Summer."
I'm not ashamed to say that I am kind of a romantic. That's right. You heard me, I am a total whispy daydream-about-Prince Charming, longing-for-happy endings, hopelessly-optimistic, fan-of-grand-gestures marshmallow trapped inside this 5 ft. 7 wall of sarcasm and self-deprecating humor.
Take a look at my favorite movies; Amelie, A Walk to Remember.
Take a look at my favorite books; The Time Traveler's Wife, Eat Pray Love.
Someone should just hit me over the head with a reality stick and say, "hey you! Wake up! Never gonna happen to you!"
So it could be kind of surprising- or maybe not- that I like 500 Days so so much. So much that I want to bake it chocolate chip cookies, leave it adorable post-it notes, plant a radio over my shoulder and wait for it to come out of its bedroom.
True, 500 Days is a whimsical little doozy; all classic 50's-styled costumes and comforting, Pushing Daisies -esque narrator voice and cute hero and quirky heroine but it's also a very raw and realistic portrayal of a romantic relationship between a boy and a girl. It captures so much of the misunderstandings, the awkward stares, the uncertain feelings, the ways your mind can alter details obstruct facts. There is no happy ending in the traditional sense. The story wasn't even told in the traditional sense-what with spontaneous dance sequences and music video-like screen shots.
Speaking of music, the movie's soundtrack was awesome and it (along with reading The Perks of Being a Wallflower just the week before) introduced me to The Smiths. (what - I'm a late angster, okay?)
In an LA Times article, the co-writer, Scott Neustadter had this to say about the film's musical choices:
"We always felt that every relationship has a soundtrack," said Scott Neustadter, who co-wrote the film with Michael H. Weber. "Music plays a role in any kind of relationship, and it would not have been as real-feeling if we didn't acknowledge that."
Seriously. As someone who can't listen to Jason Mraz's The Remedy without smiling, Mika's Happy Ending without frowning and Taylor Swift's...any of her songs, actually-without flaring up, I totally get that. Each tune flashes back a particular time in my life, a certain connection (or dis-connect) I made with someone else, the type of person I was at the moment.
Right now, the sad ballads in my "relationship soundtrack" has overtaken the happy, warm-fuzzy tunes. But I'm certain that when time comes, He'll bring about that one song that will outshine all the other. That'll be the song I'm keeping on repeat. (And as my sister can attest, I hate repeating songs)
And you can bet that whoever makes it into my relationship soundtrack in the future has best gots to like 500 Days.
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