Her

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US | 2013 | Directed by Spike Jonze

Logline: A lonely professional love letter writer falls in love with his new artificially intelligent computer operating system.

There’s something to be said about watching a movie you know next to nothing about. The only information I had gleaned going into this com-rom (that’s comedic romance, rather than romantic comedy, and the comedy is on humour’s darker side) was Joaquin Phoenix was starring and Spike Jonze directed it. I hadn’t watched a trailer, certainly hadn’t read any reviews, and, thankfully, hadn’t conversed with anyone who had seen it and unintentionally blurted out spoilers. 

Her is a movie that is rapidly finding its way onto critics’ best of the year lists. And it’s still only January. Her is a movie that is bound to appeal to the same demographic that loved Gravity, bridging across a divide between offbeat love story, and hip futuristic trends of technology and social media culture. I can’t help but feel slightly irked that I’m not in a minority, but that’s just the way I roll. Gravity didn’t do it for me the way it did for the majority, but Her has rubbed me up in all the right ways. 

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Enough of the rambling critic idiosyncrasies, let’s get down to silicon tacks. Her is the best movie of Spike Jonze’s career. Jonze's first feature, Being John Malkovich, was a superb black comedy; surreal, novel, and endearing, but Her is his crowning achievement in terms of direction. He also wrote the screenplay, and it’s a brilliant study of love’s fondness and love’s fickleness. Her is, quite simply, a wonderful tale of melancholy.

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Set in a not-too-distant future in a Los Angelefiles that looks more Asian than American (exterior city scenes were shot in Shanghai) it tells the story of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man dealing quietly with the break-up of his marriage with Catherine (Rooney Mara). By day he writes professional love letters for those who haven’t the heart or wit. By night he yearns for intimacy with a woman.

Cue: Samantha. OS One. A brand new operating system that is the first artificially intelligent software designed to really get to know its owner/user, and service their every desire. In this case, Theodore’s aching heart. Within days of installing her Theo has fallen for the husky-voiced Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). And who wouldn’t? She sounds sexy, and she’s smart and funny and imaginative and provocative. The only thing missing is … a body. But Theo doesn’t mind.

It’s only going to end in tears.

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Joaquin delivers a finely nuanced performance, and his support cast, along with the atmospheric cinematography, help construct a terrific platform; Amy Adams, in her daggiest, but most endearing role to date, as Theo’s neighbour Amy, and Olivia Wilde as a blind date. Although she doesn’t have much screen time, Rooney Mara is once again a scene-stealer (those Mara sisters are something else!), but it’s Scarlet Johnasson that commands every scene her dulcet tones emit from.

Her is one of those delicate movies on a balancing act. The premise alone is one that many will scoff or guffaw at, and yet, there is a remarkable astuteness to Jonze’s portrait of our very likely future. Artificial intelligence is not to be taken lightly, and whilst Her floats on a poetic cyber-feather, there is an inherent sadness that, like an emotional weight, steadily brings it down to earth. The final scene is both uplifting and heartbreaking at the same time.

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And yes, I too will be bold enough to state that Her is definitely in my year’s top ten favourite movies. And it’s not even February.