This is the story of boy meets boy…but you should know up front….this is not a love story! That is a variation of a line in the movie “500 Days of Summer”. Some movies should NEVER be viewed on an airplane. “Secondhand Lions” was a mistake to view on the plane…. but not for me. I had my headphones on watching “Secondhand Lions” on a Delta cross-country flight and the passenger next to me did not have headphones. As I watched the movie (plot spoiler if you have not seen “Secondhand Lions”) the Lion gets shot. I am watching the movie and thoroughly enjoying it, when the passenger next to me taps me on the shoulder and asks with a tear in his eye, “Is the lion dead?” The man was watching the movie with no audio and was moved to tears at the scene. I watched “500 Days of Summer” on my return flight from Bogotá after ending a relationship there. For me… “500 Days of Summer” was another movie NOT to be viewed on a plane!
It is a great movie, do not get me wrong, but in “500 Days of Summer” even the main character’s name is Thomas; making it an even more personal experience for me. But as the movie begins, viewers are warned….”This is not a love story”. As I watch the movie, I am thinking this is a great love story! I even see parallels in my own “love” story. This movie did not speak to me about my recent Colombian break up, but the love I have for someone in Las Vegas and this current breakup was a reminder how difficult it will be for me to love someone as much as I do my ex in Vegas. Then as the movie turns darker (not violent or horror), I see even more parallels. I see a man named Thomas pining for his lover that does not return his love. Even as we learn that she had been honest and up-front about the situation from the beginning, “I do not want anything serious” she had said. I see Thomas in me – Thomas. We root for Thomas to have his love and as the movie progresses and ends… we begin to understand why. He remembers things only the way he wants to remember them… not as they ACTUALLY were. For the real life Thomas…. he still does not know why and is crying on the airplane (and blogging) for the world to see his lonely pain of love rejected!
As the movie counts the 500 days with Summer (the girl’s name is Summer), I realize to look at my calendar. As I do… I come to a painful truth… the day I started this blog was day 500 from the last time I saw my love… my ex. It snowed that day , the last day I saw my love… my ex…in Las Vegas and it was a record-breaking snow. As I cried on the airplane and even now as I watch again and again on dvd – some movies should not be viewed on an airplane. The last time I saw my ex, it snowed … so for me… it has been 500 Days Without Snow. My personal movie still has not had its happy ending, but I did begin by telling you…. “This is not a love story!”
Thomas Johnston 