Meet Samantha How the Movie 'Her' Explores our future, our past, and our present relationship with technology

Rating: 10/10 (7 January 2014)

"The past is just a story we tell ourselves." Theodore, 'Her' The movie "Her" might be the most relevant movie for technologists as we look ahead in this new year and beyond. It serves as a stunning critique of the way we have let technology define our interactions with each other, and more poignantly, ourselves. The main character, a nerdy glasses-wearing parody of a tech hipster Theodore, played by an Oscar-worthy Joaquin Phoenix, introduces a story not only of our past, but of our probable future. Phoenix delivers a breathtaking and heartbreaking performance, along with stellar co-performers Scarlett Johannson, Rooney Mara, and a brief Olivia Wilde cameo.
The specifics of the technology, a not-so-subtle reference to both Apple's iOS, iMac, Siri and Google's Glass and various artificial intelligence, are not as important as the interaction with said technology. Theodore both wears a small earbud with which he can communicate to "Samantha," his Cortana-like artificial intelligence. His front and rear-facing camera device, reminiscent of the current generation of smart phones, is the eyes through which Samantha sees the world.
Theodore sleeps with Samantha, his smart device, both literally and, uh, figuratively.
Theodore goes in public and on the beach, alone, with just Samantha.
Theodore will talk to Samantha to help assuage his loneliness.
He takes her to bed, and wakes up with her. He even uses her to relive the past. Eventually he notices that others are as enraptured with their "OS1" as he is. Talking to them in public. Wearing their earbud wherever they go. Emotionally engaged not with the world around them, but with their devices.
It's easy to see the parallels to our own obsession with technology and the effects it has had on relationships, for better, or for worse. In aloneness, we often use our devices to "connect" yet find ourselves increasingly lonely. The movie is a poignant glimpse of our future, and the many positive advances, as well as the concerns. There's this moment where Rooney Mara's character asks Joaquin Phoenix's Theodore in shocking disbelief that many have felt when they are ignored by their significant others or loved ones in favor of technology, "you're dating your laptop?"
Movies releasing this year like "The Edge of Tomorrow," and "Transcendence," by Nolan student Wally Pfister hint at important movies for technology and it's impact on society, including Christopher Nolan's own Interstellar; and yet, the deeper we go into the future, the more it seems artists are going to help us explore the depths of our own humanity.
The things we own, goes the saying, own us. It was interesting to note as I left the theater to the soft music of the credits rolling, I noticed the familiar glow-screen. Just seconds after such a thorough criticism, nobody could wait to get back to their devices.
Hello, Samantha.
Sent from my iPhone