Not a single false emotional note, visually arresting and totally beguiling. But the caveat is that you really need to be a person in a special place to ‘feel’ this one.
Theodore is a lonely man in the final stages of his divorce. When he’s not working as a letter writer, his down time is spent playing video games and occasionally hanging out with friends. He decides to purchase the new OS1, which is advertised as the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system, “It’s not just an operating system, it’s a consciousness,” the ad states. Theodore quickly finds himself drawn in with Samantha, the voice behind his OS1. As they start spending time together they grow closer and closer and eventually find themselves in love. Having fallen in love with his OS, Theodore finds himself dealing with feelings of both great joy and doubt. As an OS, Samantha has powerful intelligence that she uses to help Theodore in ways others hadn’t, but how does she help him deal with his inner conflict of being in love with an OS?
The love between a dude and his computer idea is not new. 1984 gave us Electric Dreams. I love everything about that movie then but Her whacks the idea so far into the heavens that I can’t see the ball anymore and it made Electric Dreams feels like a cheap chick flick.
I don’t know how to begin to pen down my thoughts so this will just be a stream of consciousness post. Pardon me if it’s not coherent.
The setting is of course the future but the future is not those dark dystopian ones. Everything is bathed in gold – feels like Spike Jonze shot the film for only one hour everyday during the golden sunset. The future is absolutely believable – the meticulous set-designs (which never screams out at you “Hey you sitting there! Look at me!!”), the gadgets, the social disconnect… All so today. It’s a future that will happen next week.
Her is about loneliness. It is not the type of loneliness that is depicted by stereotypes – loner, no direction in life etc. It’s the deeper type of loneliness – you can have a great time with buddies but guffaws and laughter are masks, you can be sleeping next to a warm body (hopefully it’s your spouse 😊) but yet feel so distant and removed. It’s that type of loneliness. The depiction is spot-on and it does have something worthwhile to say about it.
Her is about love – it’s transcending nature and it’s accepting quality. Here is where Her kept surprising me with its development. It is so sensitively written but yet so twisted because in the back of your mind you have to constantly remind yourself that Samantha is an OS. Jonze made the ridiculous entirely plausible and possible. OMG… How do you have sex with an OS? Somebody once asked me for my favourite sex scene and I always find it such a dumb question because there are no lousy sex scenes😎. But I do share with them the saddest sex scene that I love – Iain Softley’s The Wings of the Dove (1997). This has finally been deposed by Her. Like the 1997 film, a profound sense of melancholy wraps itself around the core like a rind.
The acting is nuanced and sensitive. The academy seldom ever rewards nuanced performances with a nomination. To get one, your character must be in constant turmoil and pain, give some inspirational speech, be an alcoholic, lose a few marbles in the head, lose some part of the body, lose a wholotta weight and so on. Phoenix’s turn as a lonely lost soul seeking for intimacy is superb, I feel. But of course, Scarlett Johansson is truly the soul of the film. She never appears in the flesh but every single time she speaks I could literally ‘see’ and ‘feel’ her presence. And oh man! The words that spew out of every character are pin-point perfecto to the heart.
Have I left anything out? A lot…a lot. This is just one perfection of a perfect film IMHO. It’s the type of film that speaks about the human condition and it’s constant need for affirmation and intimacy. It’s delivery is a kind of retro-sci-fi but yet so relatable. The idea is not so original but the execution is pure masterclass and it’s never too clever for its own good. It’s the type of film I want to stand on my 8 floor balcony and scream out to people to watch and be blessed. However, I have a feeling this is a film that rewards a certain type of person judging from my experience last night. A group of six youths sat behind me giggling at the wrong spots and chit-chatting through the poignant ones. Frankly they didn’t spoil the movie for me but it made me realize that some movies do seek out a particular type of cinema-goer. You really need to be in a special place in your life to ‘feel’ Her. It’s alright… The film is patient, it will wait for you to grow up. My wife mentioned last night that the reason I can feel so much for the movie is because I have loved too many girls and broke up so many times. She may be right 😎.
Written by Daniel Chiam
BookMyShow Singapore 
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