screen |skr_n| |skrin| |skri_n| noun • a blank, typically white or silver surface on which a photographic image is projected : the world's largest movie screen • movies or television; the motion-picture industry : she's a star of the stage as well as the screen. verb [ trans. ] • protect (someone) from something dangerous or unpleasant • evaluate or analyze (something) for its suitability for a particular purpose or application


Sunday, January 05, 2014

Her

** 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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