** SPOILER ALERT **
When Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) panics because his operating
system doesn’t start up right away, we can all relate. We’ve grown dependent on
our gadgets. It’s nothing new. We’ve seen this trope, the relationship between
man and machine, in plenty of other movies, but never at this level of emotional
co-dependence. For her part, “Samantha” the O.S., is evolving quickly and, like
a lot of sentient beings, is ill-prepared for the emotional toll love takes on
her and her beloved. Love lessons are learned in heartfelt scenes that most
movies wouldn’t dare attempt. Spike Jones has a sweet side. (Maybe after
working so hard on Jackass he needs to infuse a bit of sentiment into the
world?) To resort to a cliché: Her is very thought-provoking. Yes, we’ve seen
incarnations of this type of story in the past, in 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade
Runner, Short Circuit and numerous episodes of Star Trek and The Twilight
Zone. But Phoenix’s willingness to completely dive into the emotional journey
thrusts Her from sci-fi straight into romance. Scarlett Johansson completely
embodies the voice of “Samantha”, if that makes any sense. But at the end of
the movie, when Theodore chooses to take in the views of Los Angeles (the CG
cityscapes are beautiful, by the way) it’s the human connection he realizes he
needs, like all of us.
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