LOS ANGELES?Almost every day, there?s filming going on in downtown Los Angeles. The area has figured prominently in commercials, TV series and movies. It has subbed for?gasp?New York and other cities and, sometimes, plays itself, as in the Robert Downey Jr.-Jamie Foxx film, ?The Soloist.?

Downtown LA?s buildings, including the majestic Bradbury Building, have been seen in countless movies. The Bradbury Building has been called ?the most famous building in science fiction? owing to its starring role in ?Blade Runner.?

But, no filmmaker has made a cinematic ode to downtown LA, the way Woody Allen and cinematographer Gordon Willis saluted New York in ?Manhattan.? Debuting feature-film director, Marc Webb, and cinematographer Eric Steelberg have remedied that with ?500 Days of Summer,? an offbeat romantic comedy set in LA?s central core.

For the first time, here?s a film that is an ode to the downtown LA that we know and love. We have to admit that we are biased. When we first came here in 1985, we lived downtown. We moved away and raised our family in the suburbs. But, now that our kids are both in college, we?ve moved back to downtown LA. We?ve come full circle, and we love it. More people are moving back to this area, and this is reflected in ?500 Days of Summer,? which was a hit at Sundance early this year. Downtown serves as a backdrop for the story of a woman named Summer (Zooey Deschanel) who doesn?t believe that true love exists and the young man, a greeting-card writer (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who falls madly in love with her.

A caveat?you don?t have to like or know the area to love ?500 Days.? It?s a quirky, charming film that?s narrated out of chronological order?and, Zooey and Joseph, two very good young actors, are perfectly cast.

Reaction

When we talked to Marc recently, we thanked him for his tribute to the place where we live. He surprised us with his reaction: ?The story was originally set in San Francisco because it was like this mystical place that we all have?it fits in the sort of mystical place in our brain, right? LA is usually represented in film as Beverly Hills, Venice Beach or Hollywood.? Marc shows downtown LA as an area that?s different from its stereotypical images.

Through Joseph?s character, Tom, Marc displays the area?s old buildings, including its majestic movie palaces (think Avenida in its heyday). Marc said: ?You walk down there and look up at the buildings and you know that there was a history there?and it?s completely forgotten. It?s a little sad, but that?s Tom?s character. He tries to find beauty and meaning in things that have been forgotten or ideas of love or architecture that have been set aside.?

Complimented about the film?s palette and look, Marc explained, ?In Tom?s world, there?s a khaki earth tone reality to it?that was the color palette. The other part of that was, we tried to shoot buildings that were built before 1950 to find like a prewar world. There was nothing midcentury nor modern. It was a world of architecture that was part of the past.?

Zooey, who is as exquisitely photographed in the film as the setting, said of her hometown: ?I grew up here, and so did Joe (Joseph). I love Los Angeles, and I?m happy to have a movie that shoots it as beautifully as this film.?

Of the film?s engaging story, Joseph explained, ?Marc always says it?s a coming-of-age tale masquerading as a love story, and he?s right. It?s a story about memory, and that?s why it?s told out of order, because a traditional Hollywood movie tells things in chronological order. It claims some sort of objectivity and omniscience, and I don?t think there are such things in the world. Everything is subjective because someone is paying attention to it, and I love that about ?500 Days of Summer.?

Point of view

?It?s from one individual?s point of view?and no, he doesn?t remember it in order. He remembers one thing, then he remembers another. Sometimes, he remembers the same thing twice, and it?s different. That?s the closest thing you can come to a truth, which is relative, right??

?The typical love story from Hollywood offers a very simplified point of view of what love is, and I don?t think it?s simple,? Joseph added. ?It?s beautiful, but it?s not simple?and it?s not going to solve all of your problems. It?s not going to make you a meaningful human being. You have to do that yourself. You have to even define for yourself what love is. There are a lot of movies or songs and my character is guilty of this?that he listens to other people and lets them tell him what love is and what it should feel like. What I?ve found in my 28 years of life is that, as much as I love movies, music and books?and I pay a lot of attention, and I learn from them?no one can tell me what love is. I?ve never seen a movie that shows exactly how I feel it, because I?m the only one that?s ever going to feel it that way.?

E-mail rvnepales_5585@yahoo.com, and read his blog, ?The Nepales Report,? on http://blogs.inquirer.net/nepalesreport.