Her, English Hollywood Film movie Review, Johnson Thomas, Rating: * * * 1/2
Her(English) Rating: * * * ½ Her is a simple film that offers a view of love that could become the relationship of the future. It is absurd yet emotionally touching!
English film Review
Johnson Thomas
Film: Her
Director: Spike Jonze
Rating: * * * ½
Theodore is a lonely man in the final stages of his divorce from Catherine(Rooney Mara). When he's not working as a letter writer in Beautiful handwritten Letters Corp., his down time is spent playing video games and occasionally hanging out with friends. He decides to purchase the new OS1, which is not just an operating system, it's a consciousness, as the ad states. The lonely, regretful, forlorn Theodore quickly finds himself drawn to Samantha(Scarlett Johansson), the voice behind his OS1. They grow closer and closer and eventually find themselves in love. Theodore finds himself dealing with feelings of both great joy and doubt. And therein lies the crux of Spike Jonze absurdist dilemma.
Her is absurd because it may not be fathomable to most but for those addicted and dependent on technology, it plays out like a cautionary tale. Her is a simple film that offers a view of love that may well be a possibility 20 years from today. And it’s a scary proposition because it shows us how we are steadily distancing ourselves from our fellow man and taking succor in the inanimate and mechanical and indeed may end up destroying our very souls. It also shows us how pure emotional love and bonding can be when stripped of all physicality and form. Humans need to be loved and it’s only when we can build healthy relationships, that we can grow emotionally and spiritually and find contentment.
The lessons are many and complex but the narrative is simple and punctuated. Jonze has always been unconventional and with this film he takes his unconventional brilliance to new heights. Every intricate detail is set-up brilliantly in a series of events to convince us of the relationship that is the core of the film. The construct is of a real man living in a world where technology has taken precedence over human bonding.
Amy Adams as Theodore’s friend is dependable, mildly neurotic and equally driven to loneliness. Rooney Mara as Theodore’s pretty wife does her bit with great traction despite a small role given to photo-flashbacks. And Scarlett Johansson does the most difficult, luring Theodore into the security of her tender, caring voice. We never see her but we hear her and that is so sensational that it’s enough. Just as it is so for Theodore. Joaquim Phoenix does the sensitive, forlorn, affection seeking Theodore with so much heart that you have to be impressed. Hopefully the Academy will too!
This is definitely one of the most unusual films of 2013-14. And You dare not miss it!
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