Endearing Romance

Rating: Null/10 (11 January 2014)

Colors, colors, colors. Her is a color-dependent film saturated with reds, pinks, blues, oranges in the set design and the tricks of light it finds in the cinematography. As great looking of a film as it is, Her also acts as a reinvention of a tragic love story, unconventional yes, but that doesn't mean it isn't filled with just as much love as Casablanca or Titanic. Spike Jonze's screenplay is as essential to Her as Alfonso Cuaron's directing and vision was to Gravity; the film soars on the strength of its script and the ideas it explores.
I criticized Rotten Tomatoes for using this phrasing in describing the consensus of The Master, but if you are a "serious" cinema attendee, then watching Her with an a "non-serious" and vocal audience is more distracting then it would be in a zone free of judgment. Everyone feels the pain of the world, but some do not understand why we feel that pain or that others have extreme cases of that ache what feel. Such as viewers of Taxi Driver who look at Travis as a stalker of Betsy. Her is consumed with Theodore's loneliness in a less subtle way than Taxi Driver, which made my audience see him as a pathetic creep. Her is a funny, satirical film, but not a film to mock the situation of the protagonist.
Developing legitimate feelings for a piece of technology is unheard of in our society today, but with an open mind (which Her warrants) the audiences can identify with Theodore and let your brain flow with the questions Jonze's screenplay asks us. With Theodore's occupation of writing sentimental letters for other people to give to the ones they love: are we becoming so communication inept that we can't even explain our own sentiments? On Samantha's role in Theodore's life: if our computers filled the social void in our lives....would we need any other humans?
The most important question Her asks is do we forget what it means to be alive? This message is where the emotional sensitivity of Johansson's faceless performance touches audiences. Do we take our individuality, struggles, past, present, possibility of a future, and body form for granted? The dynamics of humanity are thoroughly explored including selfishness and disappointments by the three main characters played by Johansson, Joaquin Phoenix, and Amy Adams. Johnasson's acting range anguishes the audience to empathize with Samantha, proving her voluptuous body is just a plus to make men fall in love with her. Phoenix is further than from any material he's portrayed recently and excellent at doing so.
Director Spike Jonze sets his film in the future, maybe he wants to make a prediction after noting the reliance on technology to make our lives function. The truth is, the world is made up of lazy people, when there's a shortcut to get to information, we grab it without looking back. But the more access we are permitted to technological advances, do you isolate ourselves as a result?
Love is infinite and we should obtain it in whatever manner makes us happy, we have to deal with the consequences. The art of communication is not lost forever, but only needs to found again. Her is a poetic film that explores human beings from the inside out. There's a sequence that I do not care for that involves Samantha seeking out a body for Theodore to use as a substitute for her, that demotes the film a tad. Even with those ten minutes, Her is an endearing collection of true romance.
Grade: A
Rating: 8.3