The life of Tom Hansson was simple and ordinary. He was a greeting card writer with a dream to be an architect but no ambition to change. Until one day his bosses beautiful new assistant approached him, and it changed his life forever. She was everything but ordinary. She was original. In Tom’s eyes, she was the most interesting woman in the world. Two opposites attracted to each other with only one thing in common, their differences. When all love is lost, Tom seeks guidance from his little sister (Rachel) and his two best friends to find his way back to believing that fate still exist.
In 2009 the movie 500 Days of Summer was created. Director Marc Webb was brilliant finding a cast that brought their own unique styles to the set creating a film that would hit top of the leaderboard making over $60 million dollars at the box office. Movie star and Oscar award finalist Joseph Gordon-Levitt takes a step back from mystery/action rolls and plays a weaker, less confident male character, in Tom Hansson. Joseph’s co-star Zooey Deschanel performs as Summer in one of her best roles as an actress yet.
Another important character is Rachel, Tom’s little sister played by young actress Chloe Grace Moretz who seems to have a bright future ahead of her. 500 Days of Summer is about two people, with opposite views on love, coming together as a couple searching for what fate has in store for them. Tom Hansson saw Summer for the first time in a meeting at work. She was introduced as the new assistant but for Tom she was his new crush. He admired her from across the office daily.
The opportunity came when Tom could tell Summer how he really felt but he was overwhelmed by fear of rejection. Luckily for Tom, Summer saw right through is lying eyes and made the first move to seal the deal with a kiss that would start of something new in their lives. Shortly after the kiss Summer express her desire of having a relationship with Tom but does not want it to be a serious one because of her past experiences with love. Tom understood what she meant but was still hung over on fate bringing them together which eventually drives Summer over the edge.
She leaves Tom expressing to him that she was not ready for an “I love you” lockdown relationship and that she still wanted to be the best of friends. This was the end for Tom. He starts to go into a deep depression that affects him at work and in his daily routines. Now, in his mind there was no fate, there was no love, there was no desire to live for anything more than to feel worthless for the rest of his life. Until one day, he saw the light at the end of the tunnel, a glimpse of hope that shined just enough for him to chase it.
Summer miraculously was brought back into his life and he was hoping for the first time in a long time that expectation and reality would finally align together. Unfortunately Tom hopes and aspirations were shut down through an engagement between his once lover and her new Fiance. The engagement affected Tom so much that it actually motivated him to move on and chase his dreams. Tom no longer believed in fate but little did he know fate had something better planned at the end when he met a beautiful young lady named Autumn.
When we see Tom get his heart broken by summer it is truly a heartfelt moment. As a human most of us know how it feels to lose the first love of our life. The man or woman that we are “going to marry” one day. What made this movie so special is that it shows through heart break and trials in life that there is something out there. There is something/someone special for us. No matter how hard life can be and no matter how long our sadness last. There is a light. We always have the ability to get up by ourselves or with a little help from our friends and family.
The best part of the movie is that Tom saw the light and after all those years he finally pursued his dream of being an architect and fate introduced him to yet another fish in the sea. “Love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast,” and in this life it’s sometimes love that hurts us the most. People love the memories. People love to relive and rewind. We try to slow down the present so we don’t trip while looking back. Life is too short to rewind it’s too fast to fast forward but in life press play and watch what fate has instore.