This Isn't A Love Story

Have you ever felt like you’ve met a perfect person that you were convinced that you were “destined” to be together, only to find out later, they weren't?

Allow yourself to believe that the relationship wasn’t completely futile pursuit that would inevitably end in pain? (as if you didn’t know better)

Found yourself unable, or unwiling to get on with your life after the imminent break up?

If you say Yes to all of the questions above then I just got a perfect movie for you.



There’s something about this little movie that sucked me to it completely. It didn’t follow the rules. In fact it crushed them all. And left me bewildered.

When my brother pushed the DVD for me to watch,“Jangan lupa tengok!,” I happened to look at the ‘little warning’ note on the cover.

“This is not a love story. This is a story about love”.

I knew I was in for something, erm, surprising. Something that doesn’t quite go where we think it will.

This is a story about Tom (Gordon-Lewitt), a hopeless romantic greeting card copywriter who seriously thinks that his world comes crushing down when his girlfriend Summer (Zooey Deschanel) of 500 days dumps him. So Tom shifts back and forth through their 500 days courtship in getting answers on what went wrong.

(Spoiler alert!)

What I like about the story is, it never feeds on our expectations on how things will turned out for both of the characters. There is no happy ending. The girl isn’t coming back to Tom (she in fact married the next guy she met in a split second). Tom never understands why Summer left him and the story is all about that.

The only thing that clearly dawned to Tom (and us, eventually) at the end of it all is; he really wasn’t the one. His final revelation turns out to be in front of him all along and he never realizes it.

I know some people will find the movie is too weird and thorny. But I find it exhilarating. It’s sad, but it’s sooo sad it’s funny – just like any other real relationship you know and ever been in. It has a very unsettling yet satisying conclusion and you know what I am saying once you see it yourself.

I am no expert in relationship but I do know disappointments were inevitable. Nobody is perfect. Without question, we’ll experience the ups and downs that all relationships provide, but we know we better be suited to handle them, because at the end of it, it’s all worth it.

Having said that, I recommend this movie to who ever been in love and/or out of it.