Yesterday I saw an interesting film that really struck me. Written, directed and produced by Spike Jonze, “Her” is a romantic comedy-drama set in the near-future Los Angeles.
Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) works for BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com as a brilliant writer who has been putting off signing divorce papers because he cannot let go his childhood sweetheart, Catherine. One day he sees an ad for OS1 – a new operating system with artificial intelligence that is tailor-fit to its user and is capable of evolving much like a human being. He buys it, installs it in his system and decides on a female AI, which names itself as “Samantha” (Scarlett Johansson). Their constant communication through an earpiece and small pocket mirror-like device with a camera developed the relationship. Unfortunately you won’t see Scarlett, but her voice acting was superb and I can’t imagine anyone else playing these lead roles.
Technology was very fascinating, architecture’s clean and minimalist in nature, but fashionistas might be disappointed. High-waisted pants and cardigans, anyone?
Anyway, for minute, let’s have an open mind and disregard the fact that Samantha was created using artificial intelligence. I tell you, it ain’t that hard at all.
Now, the movie depicts a simple story of love in a high-tech society. The relationship between Theodore and Samantha, for me, is either a picture of long distance relationships or online dating. It can also be a picture of how people are so attached to their gadgets that we forget real, face-to-face conversations with our family and friends. Scary, huh?
As you can see, it was very thought-provoking.. (would love to hear your thoughts on this:)
What makes you love someone?
What do you do when you lose the love you thought will last forever?
Just how real are our emotions? Is it really just chemical reactions in our brain?
..and will remind us of the realities of life:
No man is an island.
People come and go.
We share our lives with people, but we don’t own them.
The world isn’t just about you and her/him. We love a whole lot of people in different degrees – family, friends, God.
There is more to a person’s physical appearance.
“Her” gave me that rare kind of feeling after finishing a good book — one thing I stopped expecting from movies, especially book-based ones. Packed with such emotional honestly, I’m a hypocrite if I told you I didn’t cry or felt for each of the characters.
This is one of the best films of 2013 and deserving of its Golden Globe nominations.
Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥