"This is a story of boy meets girl, but you should know upfront, this is not a love story."

I have just finished watching the movie '500 Days of Summer' with  Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel. It was absolutely wonderful. Although the narrator warns the viewers upfront that this is not a love story, it's a beautiful film that portrays everything about love: inspiration, passion, how it starts, and how it ends. 

The movie presents realistic turns of events that make you feel good and warm and leave you feeling good and warm as well as OK in the end. By 'OK', I don't mean so-so or emotionless. I mean, a feeling of just and acceptance. Time after time, Hollywood and media have and continue to instil in us misrepresentations of life and love. The film speaks subtle hints of this several times throughout the movie. For example, when the main character, Tom, rants about greeting cards: "It's these cards, and the movies and the pop songs, they're to blame for all the lies and the heartache, everything."

The cinematography was wonderful and dynamic as well, incorporating a variety of 'non-traditional' elements, especially for a romance film. This includes presenting a series of events in a non-linear sequence, which is appropriate because the movie is basically Tom's recollection of events, and people in the real world never think linearly. Furthermore, 500 Days of Summer is neither a super-serious film nor a full out romantic comedy, though I did appreciate the brief comic relief.

This is ultimately a story about two unlikely people who fall in love, their at-times disconnectedness, and their very different discoveries of how life unfolds. I highly recommend it :)