Her (2013)

Her (R) - Review

"Would you like to play a game?"

A man in the near-future who is still in the depths of despair over his divorce receives a new lease on life when he upgrades the OS of his software to an sentient AI program that quickly wins him over and they begin to date.  This glimpse into the madness of up and coming technology and dating is brought by master unique story teller Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) with a wit and wisdom and nary a finger wagging to be found.

He (Ted) is played nervously by Joaquin Phoenix (The Master), and his sad puppy dog eyes and back in fashion mustache drip with heart ache and confusion.  Her (Samantha's) voice is provided by Scarlett Johansson (Ghost World), and provides a breathy sexiness to the disembodied character.  While being a cleverly designed sci-fi utopia with a just-changed-enough fashion sense and beautiful lighting schemes, the actual content is that of a dystopian nightmare of emotions, running the gamut through the male mind of rebound sex to unwise romantic choices.  The Science Fiction is in truth Science fact and an analog for the world we already live in, where people marry Video Game characters and sext complete strangers and flame war anonymously on the internet.  It is a subtle knife lof experience that is wielded here by Jonze, and the keen edge of satire bites true as he commits a beautiful ritual of onscreen emotional hari-kari for our own amusement and haunting dread.

To nitpick such a genuine film would be like picking apart the looks of a ravishing natural beauty, but some may have qualms with its male-centric dating perspective (though it should be seen as refreshing among the standard brain-dead female romcoms), and the future has the rosiest of glasses fixed firmly upon its face (there is nary a scent of terrorism or natural disasters whiffed in the background).  Like the classic Hollywood romantic stories of the 30s and 40s, Her is also just about characters their relationships (digitally updated) and you will excuse a little virtual cheesecloth on the lens during the closeups, its all apart of the style you see.  Everything in the future is coming up aces, except for actual human interactions and relations, as technology evolves faster than we can.

In Her's world, people pay companies to write their very personal hand written correspondence for them, for it is men like Ted, experts at emotional connection and wordsmithing, who do it better anyway.  This too-much intimacy with technology and efficiency is the movie's real true target, it aches with the love of tech and is full of dread of its resulting inhumanity and anti-social behavior.  The ending is perfect yet inevitable, for the poets and prose throughout the centuries tell of men like Ted and women like Samantha.  Except here it is romantically lit by the screens of smartphones instead of the classic table side candelabra.  And instead of looking into each others eyes, our couple stare into the glowing abyss of their news feeds, their food growing stale and cold as the twinkling of their smartphone's camera lens becomes the only evidence of their love in the darkening gloom.

8 Tailored High Pants out of 10 (GREAT)