Sci-Fi at Its Best

Rating: 8/10 (26 November 2019)

Science fiction is a favorite genre of mine. While genre normally plays very little role in my personal enjoyment of a film, Sci-Fi is most certainly the exception.
Joaquin Phoenix is one of my favorite actors. He makes interesting choices when it comes to which films he takes on, which directors he works with, and his ability to disappear into a role are second to none.
Films about the identity of Human Beings as a species and the exploring of the world we find ourselves in as well as the culture/society we form together juxtaposed with our individual identities are of huge interest to me. I believe we discover so much about ourselves through these films and for many, in our increasingly non-religiously motivated age, are the closest thing that many will come to meditation or prayer.
These three loves of mine converge in "Her," a perfect storm of a film which is among my favorites. A largely solo performance from Phoenix, A fascinating sci-fi world and concept, and one of the more sub-textual explorations of humanity under the guise of a relationship all coalesce into a sublime, thoughtful, and often funny-as-real-life piece of cinema.
Phoenix ("Signs") plays Theodore, a writer who is reclusive, awkward, and plagued by relationship anxiety stemming from an extremely hurtful end to a previous engagement. He purchases a new OS for his phone with an AI which is designed to be as real as life. This AI, who chooses the name Samantha (Scarlett Johansson, "Under the Skin"), quickly becomes his new 'best friend' as they play video games, explore the world, and even begin a sexual relationship together. Through his relationship with Samantha, Theo seems to be opening up to the world but at the same time recusing himself from human relationships for the sake of his AI one.
Even as Theo is learning more about the world and that there is a life after heartache, Samantha is becoming more aware and complex, discovering life outside her phone, on the massive online networks of the future , and with other human beings as well as AIs. This complexity borders on actual sentience which brings up many issues for the pair. Is she property? What does consent look like for an AI? Is she ever really present if her processing power allows insane levels of multitasking?
The subtlety that I find so marvelous in this film is the way that it explores those questions about humanity that we find most dear and difficult. Who am I? Who are we? Why are we here? It asks these questions not by attacking them head on but through indirect negation. Asking those questions of an AI that sounds and talks like a human but isn't causes one to be constantly thinking of the things about our humanity that separates us from an artificial intelligence like Samantha.

Films that shine a spotlight on something like but unlike us allow us to think and ruminate on ideas that normally simmer just under the surface because their mystery is simply the everyday air that we breathe. It is only when we see how different it could be that we appreciate and meditate on the givens that we take for granted.
In this sense, "Her" is an incredibly life-affirming celebration of individuality, relationship, and human society, all without ever having a single character ask something as blunt as "Who am I?"