If you think about it, we all have serious relationships with our phones and computers. No doubt many computer keyboards have become impregnated over the years and as for your phone? The majority of people can’t live without it for more than 5 minutes. And Her is very reflective of the current tech love that is out there, and takes it to another level altogether.
Starring a lonely writer (Joaquin Phoenix) who develops a full on relationship with a new operating system thats designed to meet his every need. Directed by Spike Jonze, Her is a brilliant piece of film making. It’ll tug on the heart strings, it’ll get you thinking and one scene in particular will blow your mind. While I won’t give away too much about this particular scene, it is the simplest thing you will ever see. It is nothing but sheer brilliance and it blew my jaw right off and through the floor.
Joaquin Phoenix is on top form here providing a beautiful performance that is touching and incredibly deep and as the movie progresses he just gets better and better. But its Scarlett Johansson that glues all the brilliance together, and you don’t even see her. The Avengers star lends her voice to the operating system and is completely convincing as an artificial intelligent life form. Genuinely one of her best performances for some time, and all we get is her voice. There is a great supporting cast here too including Chris Pratt, Amy Adams and Rooney Mara. All do there job wonderfully, but are ultimately not on screen for too long. And watch out, or rather listen out for Spike Jonze, Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader lending their voices as well.
Visually, Her is beautiful. Just sheer beautiful. The not so distant future is brilliantly realised and the gadgets and tech on display throughout is just around the corner. So all you geeks will lose your shit at what you’ll be buying in a few years time. But, put the geeks back in their parents basement for a second and everybody else will find a movie that has a number of things you can take from it. Theres a number of themes running throughout and it will leave different marks on different people. Regardless of what impact it has on you, it will leave one and its worth it. With a solid pace that takes its time, Her is to be savoured and it will certainly have you talking.
Her is a fantastic and beautiful movie and is a must watch, let alone the ultimate date movie. Its Spike Jonze’s greatest movie to date. And that one scene, that I’m struggling not to spoil, is worthy of the price of admission alone.
