Her
Directed by Spike Jonze
Distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures and Entertainment Film
Spike Jonze is infamously known for creating wildly imaginative worlds (Where the Wild Things Are, Being John Malkovich) that are beautiful enough to escape into for hours at a time.
But Her is something incredibly different.
Jonze takes a stab at the world’s not-too-distant future and creates a bizarre scenario that hits a little too close to home for us lonely viewers out there.
The intense and oddly-moustached Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a writer for a personalized letter company (ironically they still send postal mail in this futuristic society). Longing for a relationship after his divorce, he buys a hyper-intelligent computer operating system—or OS—that has the ability to grow, change, and interact with its buyer, developing its own personality.
The first warning sign we are slipping into another Spike Jonze world was when the OS (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) names herself Samantha. Normally we name our software, not the other way around.
In our smartphone world where we are all constantly connected, we’ve all felt lonely, out of place, and desperate for company at times. Jonze captures these feelings beautifully on-screen in Her.
Phoenix does a wonderful job of painting his face with loneliness and melancholy as he strolls around the city alone. But as Samantha comes into the movie (and his life), she draws him into an eerie, innocent relationship, similar to a friendship between two small children. Their unusual bond is playful, honest, and utterly wonderful—the perfect relationship honeymoon.
Though Johansson never physically appears on screen, her presence is just as big as that of the other actors. The role highlights Johansson’s stellar acting as she wears all of her expressions, not on her face but in vocal tones, hesitations, and emotions. Jonze cleverly shows us how we never truly appreciate a voice until it’s all we know of a person.
Amy Adams has a small role as one of Theodore’s friends who supports his relationship with Samantha and gives him good advice in dealing with the limitations of dating an OS.
As we see in the trailer, Theodore runs around with his OS system, talking to her like she’s physically with him and experiencing life for her and himself.
Still, I couldn’t help wondering, if he was so anti-social and introverted, how could he feel comfortable doing that? Did this OS love really feel like the love between two humans, empowering and heart-throbbing? Jonze never really answers that one.
But as he points out, this future is not too distant from us, and with people creating relationships entirely online, how big a stretch is it really to fall in love with an OS? Not that much, when you stop to think how (emotionally) attached we are to our devices.
See this film if you want something visually stunning. It’s beautiful to look at and provoking to think about, but prepare for Her to rip out your heart. And don’t expect Jonze to give it back.
