Imagine a hyper-real, super interactive version of Siri on your iPhone and you may have some idea as to what Spike Jonze's Her is all about. Set in Los Angeles in the near future, Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is drifting along, struggling to come to terms with the finalisation of his ongoing-divorce from his wife (Rooney Mara). Even his job writing "hand written letters" for his inarticulate, illiterate or downright lazy clients to give to whichever recipient they so choose is a constant reminder that he himself, is alone.
In a world so obviously led by technology (by this point we've seen Twombly voice-commanding through his emails, talking whilst his computer scribes and watching Apple-style adverts in the streets), he installs a new personalised "OS" into his life. With a name and an individual voice, Theodore's Samantha doesn't only organise his computer files and tell him his work schedule, but flirt and joke and provide Theodore with a new way of looking at the world and gradually the pair enter into a relationship.
The whole film's premise immerses itself in the idea of connections as it centres around Theodore's relationship between not only his wife, mainly in daydream sequences, but his colleagues, friends and of course, Samantha.
Phoenix's performance really cements the fact that after years being out of the acting game fully, he truly belongs in it. His Theodore isn't necessarily likeable; in fact throughout Her, he actually comes across somewhat creepy and a little arrogant, but you can't help but empathise with him and really feel his loneliness and yearning to connect with someone. He turns the character's negative qualities almost upside down, without disregarding them completely, and you feel for this lost, troubled man who's so attached to something he knows will inevitably end sourly.
Additionally, even though she can't be seen, Scarlett Johansson really does bring life to Samantha. Her sultry yet giggly tones give the voice life without her really needing any screen time at all. Her voice also lends a sense of naivety to the OS that makes it so believable that she's a new system, growing every time she's operating. Surprisingly, yet tremendous successfully, we can really feel the connection and heartbreak as Theodore and Samantha's relationship faces some turbulence, and this has got to be put down to the two lead actors' performances.
It's "hipster" is very apparent, even down to the character's dress senses! Who would have thought that in the future, we'd still be sporting obnoxious facial hair topiary, wearing over-sized knitwear and even bigger specs?! But if you like that sort of thing, you won't even really notice, and frankly, it does make a change to the overly ambitious futuristic films that show us donning hover boards. At least it makes it more relatable!
It is almost reminiscent of styles we've seen previous from the films of Wes Anderson in The Royal Tenenbaums and Moonrise Kingdom in cinematic representation with it's almost washed out, hazy tones. In fact, those aren't the only other movies that Her bares resemblance too. The subject can't help but make you think of films that also try and make a similar statement about technology such as I, Robot and A.I, both of which managed to sentimentally touch us whilst also suggesting a much darker undertone of how technologically-advanced the world is becoming.
The whole visual look of the film is incredibly modern and stylistic, with an emphasis on the importance and overuse of technology frequently. This could be mere coincidence or it could be a slight nod to nowadays environments such as Japan - a place in which some people have been documented as being in a known relationship with their own kind of virtual companion. (Yes, you read that right, if you thought the story behind Her was completely original, you were mistaken).
The only downside is the ending. The whole of Her could almost be described as slow; really setting both the scene and relationship before anything even happens; the ending is the complete opposite. The movie is pretty much concluded in a multitude of scenes, altogether lasting no more than around 15 minutes, which is a shame for an otherwise great film.
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