Directed by Spike Jonze
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson (voice only), Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pratt, Matt Letscher
Rated R for language, sexual content and brief graphic nudity.
Currently playing in some theaters.
Nominated for 5 Academy Awards
Best Picture
Best Writing- Original Screenplay
Best Original Score
Best Production Design
Best Original Song ("The Moon Song")
Spike Jonze's HER is a love story between a man and his computer, among other relationships. Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is a good-natured, lonely man who writes emotionally intimate "handwritten" letters for clients, like a slightly futuristic twist on Cyrano de Bergerac. As talented as Theodore is at putting the deepest feelings of his clientele to paper, he is personally introverted and hurt by his ongoing divorce from his longtime sweetheart (Rooney Mara). He has a few friends in his co-worker, Paul (Chris Pratt), and Amy and Charles (Amy Adams and Matt Letscher, respectively), a married couple who live in the same apartment complex. One day, he decides to buy a brand-new, state-of-the-art Operating System (OS), designed with complex artificial and emotional intelligence and a personality customized specifically for him. The result is the self-named "Samantha" (voiced by Scarlett Johansson), who acts as a personified presence of Theodore's network of computer devices in this not-too-far vision of the future.
In this future, the saturating presence of personal computers and networks has continued along their seemingly inevitable course to where practically everyone wears an earpiece, like an ear-bud without the cord, in their ear wherever they go outside of their own home, so that they can remain in constant communication with their assorted computers. These act as cell phones, information browsers, radios and just about every personal electronic device, all connected to a person's computers and online profile, allowing them to have e-mails read, or have "Stumble Upon"-esque hot links read to them until something interests them, at which point they simply pull out a folding pocket touchscreen.
Slowly but surely, Theodore grows a personal affection toward the increasingly self-aware Samantha, and she toward him, filling the spot in his life that had been missing for so long. But the nature of this romance brings about so many questions and personal, unfulfilled yearnings, such as Samantha's desire for a physically sexual relationship (they do manage a reasonably effective variation on sexuality), and Theodore's concerns about peer acceptance.
HER is the kind of movie that easily exceeds all but a few in smart, feel-good entertainment, but ironically, its originality prevents it from achieving the prestige of more "important" films. No matter how freaking great it may be, the blue-bloods have a hard time giving the due respect to a film about a man-and-his-computer love story. Without a Best Director nomination for Spike Lee, the Best Picture nomination is essentially an honorary presence in the top category, and its only real chance out of its five nominations is for Best Original Screenplay. It also deserves the award for Best Production Design, for its ingenious and grounded futuristic world design, but up against some much flashier productions, it's likely to be overlooked. For Best Original Screenplay however, it's won most of the precursor awards and it's a fittingly significant award without taking from the prominent Oscar films this year. I predict it will win Best Original Screenplay.
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| Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly in HER. |
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