Pretentious Movie Alert: The Surprisng Link Between (500) Days of Summer, Death Wish, and Empire Records Triple Feature

It's been a while since this movie-goer has been to the theaters, so having seen (500) Days of Summer over the weekend probably qualifies as my first, ahem, summer movie of the year. And while it wasn't nearly as twee as the advertisements suggest, it was remarkably charming, funny, sad, beautifully shot, and more than a little similar to my other favorite rom-com ever, Annie Hall. Post viewing (500) Days, we had the opportunity to watch the 1974 Charles Bronson film Death Wish. Also saw a smidgen of Empire Records yesterday afternoon while flippin' the channels! And, as the subject line suggests, there is a surprising link between the three films, which I will discuss later. (Spoilers for all three films lie beyond...)

But first, (500). It's hard to say anything about this movie without at first addressing the initial pre-backlash, then the backlash to the pre-backlash. One is in an impossible position given the way the hype machine has developed to criticize this movie whatsoever. Luckily, the pre-backlash-backlash was very accurate. Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as Tom, a greeting card writer (which, knowing nothing else about this movie, would be enough to generate backlash in and of itself) who actually wants to be an archicect (which makes me think, since when is the job title Greeting Card Writer the epitome of corporate drone? And since when is that the fallback option to being an architect? But again, I cannot backlash) and meets the woman of his dreams in his office. Zooey Deschanel plays that woman, the title character Summer. Pretty much, this movie's two leads are perfectly cast -- whatever limitations Deschanal may have as an actress are eschewed for a part that seems to be perfectly fit for her. Obviously she's gorgeous, AND she looks great in hip clothing, AND she is perfectly fit for a role where she's supposed to say stuff in a very aloof type of way. Same goes for Gordon-Levitt, who throws a little bit of joy into the brooding he did well in the high school noir Brick (which I wasn't a huge fan of if only because he walks around with such an ugly-ass jacket the whole movie...shallow, yes I am...luckily he's also really well-dressed in this one).

Besides the great performances, this film threw in the whimsical style of my favorite romantic comedy ever, Annie Hall. The Hall & Oates dance scene, as OHD has alluded to in her "faves" list to the right, was magnificent, alongside the delightfully random daydream of Tom's in the arthouse movie theater, with him playing chess a la The Seventh Seal with other pretentious film tropes spoofed (which inspired uproarious laughter in the corner of the theater that I sat in alongside Chris, Brigitte and Lady Amy). But my favorite scene of the film (and maybe my favorite scene of any movie of the year) was the comparing the "expectation" vs. "reality" split-screen scene. Like the many great scenes from Annie Hall that played narrative tricks, it helps us understand the thoughts of the characters more so than a traditional rom-com structure.



Also like Annie Hall was the "this is not a love story" vibe. And Summer, the character, is quite reminiscent of the title character of Annie Hall (albeit without the verbose charm), what with her flighty "let's just be friends" attitude. Refreshingly, though, she was not the Manic Pixie Dream Girl one would expect from the marketing campaign -- she didn't provide Tom with the cure to his depression a la Garden State. And Tom's heartbreak over the bumps in their relationship occasionally, and hilariously, came off as paranoid whining. Not taking itself too seriously while maintaining the heart-wrenching elements of any relationship in a somewhat realistic way is the way this film sets itself apart from other modern rom-coms.

The only quibble I had with it, in fact, is the aforementioned "I really wanted to be an architect" thing. Adding a "I am also trying to follow my career dreams and be a unique individual in a world full of drones" element is somewhat grating. When Charles Bronson decided to become a vigilante in the other film we watched this weekend, Death Wish, did he give up his career as an architect? No, he did not, nor would it make sense, nor does this comparison. What I'm saying here is, architecture is a boring profession to go into, whether it's Tom from (500) Days or Charles Bronson in Death Wish. (On a side note, how thin is Charles Bronson's mustache? You gotta have a serious commitment to maintain your mustache that thin.) Also, remember when A.J. really wanted to be an artist while he worked at Empire Records for the last day before it was supposed to be given up to the man (spoiler alert: Renee Zellwegger singing a song on the rooftop helped the corporate drone decide that he didn't really care about the store and decided to let them keep the store!!! Yay!!!) but then he also worked at the store, but then he found out he was actually going to art school instead? You get the point -- that kind of thing works for a ridiculous movie like Empire but seems out of place in a true piece of work.

But that's neither here nor there. (500) Days is so likeable, so funny, so charming, so heartwarming (and simultaneously heartwrenching), and is such great eye-candy (srrsly, how does it make sense that Zooey goes home every day to kiss Ben Gibbard? Talk about marrying down!) that any type of backlash, whether it's pre-backlash, backlash to the pre-backlash, or backlash to the backlash to the pre-backlash, is rendered moot, because when it all comes down to it, even the most cynical hipster jerk's heart melts when faced with a scene in which the pretty and fun girl's head rests on the sensitive protagonist dude's shoulder.

This entry was posted by Unknown, on Monday, August 03, 2009. You can leave your response.