A few movies have done this same thing for me before. Garden State, Juno and Nick & Nora’s Infinite Playlist did it recently. Romeo + Juliet did it for me first. But now (500) Days of Summer has joined the ranks of movies that manage to use their soundtracks to connect to me (and you, I think) on a visceral level. The O.M.P.S. becomes like a love letter in the form of a mixtape to its audience.
The movie is palpable on many levels. It captures that anxious numbness that comes with fights/flirts, right before you know you’re going to make love/break up. The camera’s gaze doesn’t hide its obsession with LA’s under-appreciated pre-war architecture or Zooey Deschenel’s very appreciated porcelain face.
And like Los Angeles’ buildings, the songs become their own character, guiding us through the non-linear narrative like a docent steeped in the history of our hearts.
So listen to these tracks below, buy the soundtrack here, wait for the Grammy nomination here, and check back this week for a few more referential posts on the subject of the artists on this film’s soundtrack.
The Temper Trap – “Sweet Disposition”
Doves – “There Goes The Fear”
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Comments ( 2 )
Rosina added these pithy words on Aug 25 09 at 8:06 pmI know this is a bit off, but does his shirt say “Love will tear us apart?”
