Nightmare or Dream: From online dating to dating your computer

Rating: 10/10 (24 January 2014)

I can still remember vividly the time when the first online dating sites appeared and everybody was excited about the immense potential of new mates you could find on the Internet. I went into this movie primarily because Joaquin Phoenix is one of my favorite actors and I will see any film he is in. I did not read much about the film beforehand and therefore was not really aware of the fact that the movie played in the future. So I found myself wondering if there is really an operating system who would allow you to do all these things Theodore , the main character, was doing. I resist a lot of the new technology because I prefer direct human contact to being connected through devices and due to this am not all too familiar what is out there. I feel that we are getting more and more isolated by technology. Clothing and interior decoration in this movie did not look futuristic to me and human relationships never seem to change. It is always the same disaster. The easy way out seems to be to have sex by watching porn, to drop your partner if the first major problems show up and to avoid real interaction by communicating through devices. Now this film takes it one step further: the sex and the communication is all with the device and there is no more physical contact at all, because one of the partners has no body. It is a very seductive idea. I can imagine buying an OS which shares my interests, is highly educated and informed, is always available day and night, and always willing to exchange ideas and who takes an interest in my life and goals. In the online dating game you eventually had to meet your partner to find out if there is really a connection, the Operating system you can never meet so there can never be a solution. To avoid loneliness you have to resort to interact with human beings. When will we learn this?
Good film. Great performance by Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johanson.