A love story with thought and imagination.

Rating: 9/10 (13 February 2014)

The latest work of Spike Jonze has gathered a plethora of praise and positive feedback among critics and moviegoers in general (especially critics). even without that much buzz surrounding it, "Her" is Emotionally sophisticated and Visually absorbing. a strange wonderful tale between a man and computer that is genuinely heartfelt and passionately imaginative. It has been a long time, since a marvelous dramatic feature like this come out from Hollywood. for an obvious reason, a romantic feature that is highly captivating as well as thought provoking has been hard to come by. "Her" is such a tremendous achievement for Jonze, not only because of his artistic brilliance, but also his ability to envision the future of human relationship with technology as well as the fundamental aspect of human emotion.
Set in the future, the lonely letter writer Theodore is desperate in search of a meaningful relationship after the separation with his beloved wife. Theodore is left unsatisfied and clueless about his life. his friendship with Amy seems formal without much attention garner between one another, since Amy has her personal problems as well. After a while, he decide to try a new developed computer OS being named Samantha as he chose a female assistant. Surprisingly, Samantha has enough wits and personality that Theodore found to be exciting and find comforts in her presence. Afterwards, Theodore begins to believe that Samantha is more than just a computer and starting to develop a relationship with her. for the first time after his divorce, Theodore has finally feel free and ready to have a commitment with Samantha.
Basically, the story revolves around a man intimate relationship with his advance computer. on the surface, it is an offbeat and bittersweet romantic story with the futuristic possibility of a further A.I advancement as the premise. on a deeper interpretation, there is a philosophical questions about the boundaries of relationship between man and a machine. how we as a human will ever have a legitimate connection with artificial intelligence. and what will happen when they finally evolve like us in order to have such curiosity and complex emotion. the fundamental question is regarding the soul of a machine and its possibility to ever came into existences. given such high curiosity, Spike Jonze is willing to tackle those difficult question in an adequate manner in form of a simple love story
The hyper-realism being use to capture the captivating futuristic setting is absorbing. like Jonze previous film "Where The Wild Things Are", his ability to create a sense of surreal reality is compelling. in "Her" he maintain his signature approach toward the movie setting and background, making the character richer in context. with highly talented cast like Joaquin Phoenix,Amy Adams,Scarlett Johanson and even Rooney Mara as the supporting reminiscent, the story feel more alive and captivating. Although its focal point lies within the chemistry between Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johanson.
Though much credit goes to Phoenix subversive portrayal as Theodore Johanson subtly voice bring much necessary wits and personality into Samantha. her lending voice is one of importance toward Samantha poignant connection with Theodore. While Amy Adams manage to relish every moment of her limited screen time. being spoken some of the film memorable dialog. Adams brief moment is momentarily significance. all of the cast seems fitted with their character, even Rooney Mara and Olivia Wilde short appearance still left some impression.
It is hard enough to find the bad faults within the film, because of Spike Jonze flawless visual and great acting. although the resolution between Theodore and Samantha is fairly obvious, it even reeks a little pretentious. nonetheless, it revels into this poetic and poignant endearment it was a "beautiful pretentiousness" indeed. the plot is also kept at deliberate pace, which is part of Jonze signature approach for whatever reason. though his slow pacing has given us some space to reflect the character and its parallel reality. simply put,every moment of visual brilliance is enough to be cherish in this thoughtful futuristic analogy.