I can imagine the idea sprouting as a joke... someone mentions how attached society has become to technology, and then someone else comments, what if someone fell in love with their computer? And then laughter ensues as they imagine how creepy/hilarious such a scenario could be. But that idea began to grow and grow, and in the hands of Spike Jonze, turned into a strange, deeply intricate and beautifully haunting story.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombly, a quiet and thoughtful man who makes a living by writing beautiful letters for other people at Beautiful Handwritten Cards (the ironically dull name of the company). By and large, his life is mostly cut off from the rest of the world -- he really only routinely interacts with two other people: a coworker (Chris Pratt) and an old friend (Amy Adams) -- and perhaps his comfortability with this isolated lifestyle added to the separation between him and his wife, Catherine (Rooney Mara), about one year prior.
Theodore purchases a new, lifelike operating system to help him organize his life, and before long, he is talking and laughing with the OS (Scarlett Johansson), which calls itself Samantha. Their relationship begins to bud, as Samantha turns out to be the perfect companion: helpful, interested, funny, and always there to talk to. But she is more than that: she begins to discover more about herself, and is genuinely excited about life, which Theodore finds refreshing. Soon the two of them enter into the dating world.
Overall, the film is a realistic portrayal of the future: it incorporates a lot of concepts which are still just prototypes in today's world (holograms, voice and movement recognition software, etc.), almost taking them for granted in Theo's life, and yet doesn't get too carried away: it is the future, but it isn't as in your face as many other sci-fi worlds have made efforts to be. The same can be said with the cinematography: simple, beautiful, but not overbearing. All of these pieces fall into line with the direction of the film: the acceptance, not fear, of what could be. I was sure when I began watching that I was going to find the film deeply disturbing, see a world that could very well come into being somewhere down the line and feel a sense of foreboding: computers = bad, real people = good. But though there were a few moments in which I squirmed at the society that unfolded before me, it was refreshing to see Jonze take this world further than you could ever imagine, really getting into the meat of the problem as Samantha becomes just as real to the audience as any of the other characters.
Joaquin Phoenix does a phenomenal job with Theodore, and it is heartbreaking that Scarlett Johansson did not get nominated for her role as Samantha. The strange relationship that we watch unfold is mesmerizing, especially given that you can only actually SEE half of it.
Her should definitely be on your list of films to see. If you haven't already, come to the Midtown Cinema to check it out!
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