Opening Night and 500 Days of Summer

Opening night of the IIFF went well. This year the festival was held at the IMA - a change from Keystone Arts where it has been held in prior years. I think the change was for the better. The IMA offers still the same atmosphere as Keystone Arts but now the film festival is not located in the heart of a mall. Viewers are still able to bring drinks and food in to the theater as they did at Keystone. The IMA Theater has a fun artsy feel to it - topped off with giant bean bag chairs in the front row.

Once the festival got underway, we heard from Dorothy Henckle, the new president of the board for the IIFF, and Brian Owens, the original founder of the IIFF, who came up from Tennessee.

The opening night movie was 500 Days of Summer. It's not a love story, but a story about love. 500 Days of Summer is directed by Marc Webb and staring Zooey Deschanel and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Zooey and Joseph play the main characters Tom and Summer. The story begins with Tom and Summer working at the same company and is a classic tale of boy meet girl. Both characters have a different outlook on life and love. In the movie Tom has the help of his two friends and wise sister. Tom’s friends McKenzie and Paul who are played by Geoffrey Arend and Matthew Gray Gubler give a good comedic relief. The movie is a romantic comedy with reality laced in.

500 Days of Summer portrays a good example of how we can get so carried away with obsessing and analyzing someone before we gain the courage to even talk to them. I found myself relating to too many of the different stages they went through in their relationship and I think most viewers could also. It is entertaining to have a wise 11yr old sister, but I feel this role has been played out in many other movies and could have done with out. The best part of the movie for me is when they create the scenario of reality and fantasy. I think anyone can relate when we have expectations of how an evening will go and then reality sets in. 500 Days of Summer also creates a beautiful image of downtown Los Angeles that we generally do not see in movies. The film also has a strong soundtrack that carries you through the various different moods.

If you missed the screening last night I would suggest to look for it when it comes to theaters. It is a fun movie that goes through all phases of a relationship from begin to the end.