slipjig3: (orson welles)
[personal profile] slipjig3
Why is joy so hard to portray on screen? A better question: why is it so hard to portray in a way that imparts that joy to the viewer? Horror and tragedy directors seem to have the whole empathy thing down much of the time, making us scream and cry right along with their characters, but all too often our reaction to an over-the-moon happy character is to say, "Aww, look, they're happy! That's nice!" What does it take to get that feeling to carry over?

Well. Having watched (500) Days of Summer (and don't forget those parentheses), I am in a position to say that you need just the right soundtrack. God dammit, you need some Hall and Oates:

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(500) Days of Summer goes to pains to declare that it is "not a love story," but a story about a relationship of the sort that we don't usually see in movies but we've all lived through time and time again, where your partner might not be The One and "happily ever after" is far from a foregone conclusion, and that's actually okay. That's not to say that there's no love to be seen, of course. Tom, our protagonist, is certainly in love with Summer Finn, played by Zooey Deschanel in full-bore Manic Pixie Dream Girl mode, or at least thinks he is. Summer, meanwhile, is in like with Tom, maybe even like-like, enough so that she's willing to see where all this goes. That disparity of emotional investment is what leads to the film's painful moments, like the ingenious "expectations vs. reality" scene that was my other nominee for this project. But that comes later; first they meet, they connect via their obscure musical tastes, they spend sublime time together, and then at long last she welcomes him into her bed.

And then…well, then there's Hall and Oates. The scene is the walk home on the morning after their first tête-à-tête, the proverbial "walk of shame" that hasn't a lick of shame in it. It's a scene that goes from upbeat to silly to downright gonzo, giving us the privileged view inside the head of a man who's so happy to be alive he doesn't know what to do with himself, so he projects that happiness on the morning and the world. Again, it's a moment we've all had, but the beauty of the clip is that it looks just like that moment feels, when you can't walk without dancing and can't even conceive of the people around you failing to dance with you. Director Marc Webb can certainly take credit for a lot of that, but the real hero here is Joseph Gordon Levitt, who not only rocks a sweater vest as so few of us can, but finds exactly the right note in his performance and the right spring in his step to say, "I just had the most amazing sex ever." (Check out that look he flashes as he steps into the elevator at the end: pleased, energized, every so slightly smug. The seldom-pulled-off classic face of the recently laid.)

I've read a few spoilsport reviews of (500) Days of Summer that accuse the film of being twee and precious, and I suppose they could level that criticism at this scene in particular, but come on, I want to tell these people, where are you keeping your warm human heart? Back to the clip: at the 58-second mark, when Tom's strut slips into full-out dance number, and Webb has the sense to capture the moment in a mostly-stationary wide shot as more and more passersby fall into the musical Tom is filming in his head, and dozens of heads and torsos and pairs of arms swing and shake with abandon as Daryl Hall sings, "Twist and shout my way out, and wrap yourself around me…." Jesus. I don't like making sweeping generalizations where matters of opinion are concerned, but I'm going to say it: if you're not smiling at that point, there's something wrong with you.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-03 06:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] rain-herself.livejournal.com
*sigh* :) <3

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-04 09:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slipjig.livejournal.com
<3 Thank you again for reminding me of this scene.
(deleted comment)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-04 09:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slipjig.livejournal.com
Thank you! I'm turning into quite a JGH fan myself. (If you haven't seen him in 50/50, do.)
(deleted comment)

(no subject)

Date: 2012-05-04 09:20 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] slipjig.livejournal.com
Ooh, I haven't seen that one yet! Much catch it on DVD when it comes out.
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