Spike Jonze has delivered yet another movie that seems to have taken the romantic relationship movie genre up another level. It's a charming movie that has all too familiar moments to those that have been in a relationship of some kind. Her will make you smile, laugh, and make you uncomfortable as you're taken through familiar relationship circumstances. The difference here is that the relationship is between a man and his computer's operating system. It's not just any operating system though, it's the most advanced OS ever created. It's an artificial intelligent, intuitive, ever evolving operating system and it gives you the choice of picking a male or female voice. The main character in the movie, Theodore played by the talented Joaquin Phoenix chooses a females voice and what man wouldn't when the sultry voice of "Samantha" is provided by Scarlett Johansson.
Theodore is your every day, garden variety hard worker in the somewhat distant future, working for HandWrittenLetters.com. He dictates letters to his computer at work and when they are printed out, they look as if they were written by hand. He's recently divorced and seems to have great rapport with his upstairs neighbors Amy, played by Amy Adams and her husband Charles who is played by Matt Letscher. Theodore, a recent divorcee isn't quite ready to date yet and though seems truly mortified by the idea of it, goes on a date with the lovely Olivia Wilde. That leads him, somewhat unwittingly to get the latest OS and soon after, Theodore has never been happier. He finds himself thinking of Samantha as the girl he's dating and not his computers operating system. Samantha is taking care of him in ways his wife never did and even gets Theodore a book deal. There is this odd moment when Samantha and Theodore try to include sex into their "relationship" but I won't divulge that secret, you'll just have to see it to believe it.
Her is a movie I couldn't wait to see once I saw the trailer and it did not let me down. While I wasn't all that big of a fan of Spike's Wild Things, I was impressed and Her has impressed me yet again. He is a great director and a very talented writer and I almost wish it didn't take years to get another film from him. Shot by cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, Her has a very soft look. Nothing is too bright or dark and the colors red and orange are often prominently displayed. The city landscapes seem to change in the blink of an eye. One moment it appears Theodore is in L.A. and the next he's in Japan. I'm guessing that's done to give us the idea that future cities will be even more massive in size and scope. There is no "score" for Her, instead there's music by Arcade Fire, Karen O, The Yeah Yeah Yeahs and others. The music selections fit this movie perfectly, a movie that really didn't need much music to begin with. I highly recommend Her if you're looking for an intelligent, well written, and well acted film and I'll see you at the theater.
No comments:
Post a Comment