What if it's love? Mark Webb's first full-length work is not the typical romcom that it may seem, but rather a romantic drama. This is a story of two people, about a guy and a girl, but the story is not quite about love, as the voiceover reports at the very beginning of the film. In an attempt to tune in to the desired wave, even in the initial credits, in which no one notices the pop-up names of actors and creators, we are shown as if the childhood of the main characters, apparently proving that they are completely different and therefore perceive the world differently.
Further this linearity of growing up, as well as the correct timing of circumstances, you can not even wait. The counter from 1 to 500 will randomly scatter numbers, a random set of events from the lives of the main characters. A messy mosaic of random numbers will rush from the past to the future, from the future to the present, from the present to the even more distant past, and so on, assembling pieces of this puzzle story. After all, when assembling a puzzle, you put the piece in your hands where it should be, regardless of the beginning or end of the line, the top or bottom of the image, right or left. So here, stretched out at random episodes are scattered in a very strange order, devoting us to the details of all periods of this period of the life of the characters, lasting 500 days.
Of course, we will not be shown each day separately, dwelling only on more interesting points of history, and the plot in this way looks quite unusual, having such a non-traditional approach to romcom, based on a rather original concept, and before us a theatrical tragedy is played out about how dreams and worldview are broken, about fatalism and its role in people’s lives, about how everyone is responsible for their own life.
And the problem with this romcom lies in the fact that it is actually a romcom and is not. A couple of funny jokes that can cause only a smile does not make the film a comedy, such elements are in action films, and even in fantastic thrillers, a couple of jokes are clearly not enough, and for all its romance, the atmosphere of tragedy and drama permeates the plot so powerfully that the film now and then loses its temporary lightness, thickening with frowning clouds, from which tears of rain are about to pour. The drama is about a man in love, and the story of a strange girl whose adequacy in relation to the surrounding world is rather doubtful, but the accentuation of the character does not break the line into pathology. And not even confused by the fact that the younger sister of the main character seems many times smarter and more experienced than himself, generously distributing wise advice, not typical for his age. And the central character himself for an hour is unspeakably dull, unreasonably afraid and shy for no reason, demonstrating his isolation, independence and just his own fear of relationships - what he himself craves madly. Well, since a person is not yet ready for this and is not able to take responsibility, how can events unfold in such a situation?
This film will be able to hook the viewer with its active moral message, so direct and stimulating meaning that almost everyone will be forced to learn from the mistakes of others, and it is possible that this will even help the viewer to avoid their own. Each of the film's statements is straight without context and second bottom, it adorns it and makes it accessible, not too loading the mind with the search for truth, when everything is chewed up and becomes, as in the palm of your hand, not only visually, but also acoustically due to the voiceover.
Accessibility gives the film lightness, and its tragic lightness takes away, playing with the contrast of heterogeneous plot events. Therefore, it turns out to be a little controversial and contradictory in its essence, and besides, too one-sided, without the possibility of a different view than the author’s. Such a strongly expressed position gives every reason to call it art, because it really does not look like, say, “Promise – does not mean marriage”, “Proposal” or “Shopaholic”, and still adheres to some common canons, just in a more blurred outline of genre.
And when a lover tries to build a relationship with an extremely independent and independent girl, it is always quite difficult, and certainly not always possible. What if it's love? Does love have a place in a movie like this if it’s already made clear that it’s not about it? Feelings do not play an important, and not even a secondary role here, they are somewhere beyond the board of an unevenly floating ship, which either slows down, then accelerates its pace, then stands still, as if in front of him a huge iceberg and is about to sink to the bottom, with incorrect movement.
It’s not really about love, but it’s romantic, and there’s no denying it. The actors perfectly performed what was required of them, but to play something stronger and brighter did not work. Such a movie should please the lover of life films, when on the screen everything is as it happens in life, without cinematic gloss and Hollywood shine of obligatory happiness. For those who are used to seeing a funny fairy tale, such an author’s approach to the vision of relationships may simply be alien and not accepted by the viewer, but romantic life cinema for the most part is always loved by the audience, which is already confirmed by the commercial success of the film. But the fact that it is not about love and still on the amateur - can not be denied either.
7 out of 10
Original
