This movie was absolutely beautiful and brilliant. I’m quite familiar of Spike Jonze from his days on Jackass, so when I noticed that he wrote and directed the movie her, I was worried I wouldn’t take it seriously. Boy was I wrong; Spike Jonze impressed me on so many levels, and it’s clear that he has some serious writing chops.
I was so captivated by Joaquin Phoenix and his heartwarming portrayal of someone who is heartbroken but learns to fall in love again. Spike Jonze adds a modern twist to this love story by involving an advanced super computer (an OS system named Samantha; played by ScarJo) into the mix, and creates a love connection between these two characters. It sort of reminded me of Lars and the Real Girl (starring Ryan Gosling), where he falls in love with his sex doll. Both movies parallel each other in the sense of falling in love with objects, but her goes way more into depth of exploring Samantha’s personality and giving her humanistic life. ScarJo’s performance is sensational, and even though we don’t see her face, she breathes so much passion into Samantha with just her voice. You feel that Samantha is actually a real person, and the line between human and OS system is blurred quite quickly in the movie.
The film was around two hours long, but held my attention the entire time with it’s talented writing and acting. If I had to choose one word to sum up my impression of this movie it would definitely have to be impressed. The film is so much more than someone falling in love with an OS system. It explores relationships and connections in a much deeper way, and the film does such a fantastic job at touching your heart.
8.5/10
Up Till 4 