Amazing

Rating: Null/10 (10 January 2014)

I've seen many 2013 films, but only two have touched me in deeply personal ways, and these two stand on another level to everything else I saw from that year. The first is Before Midnight, which I saw months ago. The second is Her, a funny, soulful, deeply moving film that, like Before Midnight, is about love, about human relationships, about the yearning to communicate with someone else. It's so easy for this film to fall into conventions, even with the sci-fi-ish concept. And really, its structure isn't too different, but it's so brilliantly written and directed, and above all else, acted.
Joaquin Phoenix gave a tour-de-force performance last year in The Master, and he does yet again here. It's a moving performance unlike any other, touring over any other male performance of the year. The fact that he probably won't get nominated for an Oscar is a travesty because he should be walking away with it. Amy Adams gives her best turn here since Junebug. It's a small role, but she hasn't so fully immersed herself into a character, this deeply and realistically, since then. And then there's Scarlett Johansson, who, just with her voice, does some of the best work all year as well. I've never been a big fan of her, even in her most acclaimed performance (Lost in Translation) but she does things here that I never knew she was capable of. She and Phoenix touched my soul, truly. I sound cheesy right? It's true. I don't know what else to say about the film, but it's a masterpiece through and through and am awarding it the highest possible grade on my first viewing, which I rarely do.