Her

There were a lot of moments while watching Her that I found myself asking "where is this movie going"?  For once, however, I wasn't asking this out of boredom or frustration.  It was a real sense of curiosity and involvement.  Writer-director Spike Jonze has taken a fairly common idea in Science Fiction, that of a computer experiencing emotions and becoming attached with a human, and makes it seem fresh with his unique vision and dialogue.  This is a sometimes heartbreaking and often clever look at relationships, and communication in general, whether it be personal, or with the means of a device.

Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) is a man living a solitary existence in the not-too distant future.  His job is to dictate personal letters that other people send to friends and loved ones into a machine that creates notes that look like they were handwritten.  He is still deeply hurt over the fact that his wife, Catherine (Rooney Mara), has left him.  In fact, he still hasn't even signed the divorce papers yet, as he feels once he does, he has truly lost her completely.  Rather than spend time with his friends Amy (Amy Adams) and Charles (Matt Letscher), Theodore prefers to lock himself in his apartment, and play holographic video games.  One day, he hears about an advanced new personal OS, which is said to have advanced artificial intelligence, and human-like personality.  He brings one home, sets it up, chooses the "female voice" option, and instantly has a new friend in his life.  The voice that comes from his computer calls itself Samantha (voice by Scarlett Johansson), and it does not take long until he actually starts to form a relationship with this voice who seems to know all about him from reading his e-mails and from what he tells her about himself.

We know that Samantha is not real, and so does Theodore.  And yet, given his social awkwardness, and his bad luck with relationships, can we really blame him for becoming attached to this entity that he hears by sticking a headphone device in his ear?  She is programmed to be understanding and kind, but there is something human about her.  She is not subservient.  She encourages him, she listens to him, and she inspires him.  And as they spend more time talking together, Samantha seems to grow curious about the world around her.  She studies what she can by downloading information on line, and Theodore begins to show her the world by traveling to different places with her camera "eye" in his pocket.  As the film goes on, we learn that perhaps Theodore is not alone, as everyone seems to be plugged into their devices, talking to their portable OS as they walk down the street, practically oblivious to the world around them.

It's clear that Jonze is making a statement about communication between people with this idea, but he does not hammer this point home, nor does he take the conventional approach of treating this like it's the downfall of humanity.  He treats Samantha as if she was just as real as Theodore, and because of this, Her gets to ask a lot of questions we don't expect.  There is a scene where Theodore is in bed, talking to Samantha, and the subject of love comes up.  Samantha wants to experience such emotions, particularly making love.  The two begin a simulation of love-making, with Theodore telling her what he would do if she had a physical body.  The screen goes black, and we can still hear them talking, and it's clear that we are looking through Samantha's "eyes" as she imagines in her head the words that he is telling her.  In the wrong hands, this scene could have been downright comical, but Jonze, and the performances of Phoenix and Johansson, give it a certain fragile beauty.

Really, it is the characters of Theodore and Samantha, as well as the performances, that make the movie work as well as it does.  Theodore is awkward, and yes, does not always say the right things.  But we never get a creepy or an offputting vibe from him.  Phoenix plays him as a man who has been broken down by a lot of shattered promises and hopes from other people who probably promised to love him forever, and one day, just could not hold onto that promise anymore for whatever reason.  His pain and his character are easy to relate.  We can see why he is drawn to Samantha, as she is ever-present in his life, and becomes all the more so as she seems to become sentient during their time together.  Samantha is smart, encouraging, and constantly curious about the world.  It is this curiosity that actually causes Theodore to leave his home, and show her different places.  Johansson brings a natural presence to her voice over performance.  It's been reported that she was not the original choice to voice Samantha, and that the role initially was played by Samantha Morton.  I'm hoping when the film hits home on DVD, we can maybe hear this alternate voice track, so we can compare the two performances, and see how they differ in bringing this OS to life.

What Spike Jonze has done with Her is to create a movie that is unique and adventurous, while at the same time giving the film enough human emotion so that we can connect with it.  That seems to be a talent he has with a lot of his films, mixing the unconventional with a detectable spirit.  He has a lot of ideas, but he doesn't let them overtake his stories, or drown out the human element.  Whether it's exploring the inner workings of an actor's mind (Being John Malkovich), or adapting a childhood story favorite (Where the Wild Things Are), he always approaches his films with breathless invention and personality.  It's a fine line, and he walks it brilliantly here.  This is probably one of my favorite films he's done, because his invention and his more conventional ideas blend so effortlessly.   

I'm not sure about the overall commercial appeal of this film, or how mass audiences will take to it.  But, I'm glad that someone was able to take a chance on this movie.  Her deserves to be seen, but most of all, it deserves to be talked about when it is over, and looked back on long after you have finished watching it.

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