Absolutely Riveting

Rating: Null/10 (15 February 2014)

In spite of the obvious bad edits made in the locally-released theatrical version, this one's a gem of a movie, a work of great intelligence, wit and beauty. Boy was I lucky to catch this with a like-minded audience.
A treatise on loneliness and our own attempts to deal with it in different ways, how it would be to interact with evolving, sentient beings in real-time, make this riveting not just for its dramatic potential (which it oh-so-thoroughly mines), but also for its penchant for being a valid entry into the sci-fi trope, giving competition to the likes of Primer, Moon and the like.
Phoenix has been ignored by most awards, and IMO, that's all bad form and all that, but anyone watching the movie cannot fail to be mesmerized by the power of his performance, which is of a caliber that almost has no close second, i.e., I cannot imagine another actor essaying this character, or the one he played in 'The Master', in a manner as powerful as he does (the only other actor that inhabits his characters this creepily is Bale). And Scarlett Johannnsson as Samantha (elbowing our the original choice for OS1's voice, Minority report's Samantha Morton - no idea why) is always present in the room with us, and HIM, and you want these two to stay together for eternity. No mean feat that, not even having an animated character to render the inflections of your voice.
All the choices made by Spike Jonze prove his mastery of the craft, and this is one perfectly shot and edited work, which also boasts an excellent background score (along with an instance of 'Her' breaking into song as well). Some of the choices made towards the end might divide aficionados, but I solidly bought into the premise, and stayed with it all the way. Absolutely riveting, and will benefit from multiplex viewings as well. Not to be missed, esp. at the local multiplex.