We don't want to deal with real emotions anymore

Rating: 8/10 (21 February 2014)

Don't let be tricked by the 'love for an OS' plot. This film is one of most pleasant surprises of 2013 that will make you think about your surrounding relationships. The acting and directing are remarkable, but the script is king in a thesis movie about the immateriality of love, sex and relationships. You have to expect a slow paced editing counterbalanced by the design, music & photography details that transforms the dialog driven film into a beautiful experience.
The story is about Theodore, a lonely writer with a divorce process ongoing. There is a new Artificial intelligence (AI) operating system in the market capable of truly relate with humans which Theodore starts a relationship with unpredictable consequences.
The cast is interesting with Rooney Mara, Amy Adams, Olivia Wilde and Scarlett Johansson delivering a good acting support. The main actor Joaquin Phoenix had a difficult role mainly because he is acting much time alone and in difficult scenes as the virtual sex with no human interaction. Phoenix has a good performance specially because the subtle emotion shifting that was needed.
The script is subtle and substantial. Is the best of the movie and a serious candidate for an Oscar being a step back the highly conceptual dialogs, which are not in the tradition of the academy. Jonze writes masterly about the relations of contemporary society, the difficulty to create long term relationships and the failure of human relationships.
The several AI are so well built to explain the limits and possibilities on this theme. An example of this is the scene which occurs an interaction between a superior AI entity, another AI that is a character of a game and a person. That moment shows the possible future AI-AI and AI-Human relationships. Finally, the disclosure is memorable and surprising enough to be remembered for a long time.
'Her' is not a typical science fiction movie in terms of visual choices. Spike Jonze made a twist on how to shoot the future, instead of trying to capture the future design & technologies possibilities, he decided to create a sense of timeless imagery. There is an obvious design driven directing to give this timeless feeling on the movie. For example, the wardrobe is made by a simple shirt, glass and high waisted pants with some retro accessories. Retro style helps create a human cozy feeling and to remind us that the theme is about humans and not only OS.
The set design has the same double intention as the custom design of creating a timeless effect and a human cozy feeling. The minimalist flat design with organic furniture creates perfectly this visual message. The future LA is so similar as the present with a cityscape almost every time as background, as saying the future is now. The exterior scenes are close to present reality but with a touch of simple building lines to create that timeless effect. The rule is not showing a future imagery and stay with the ever-now effect, using sometimes natural landscapes to hide future human intervention.
Another major design investment of this film is on all the User interface UI. The gaming UI that is three-dimensional presence on the living room and the remote free controls makes any geek to jump 20 years ahead. In opposition, the operating system (OS) UI and mobile UI go into a direction to give a more organic feeling to the OS's.
Overall is a great movie. One of the best screenplays of the last year and have a focus on the design details that really matter, to make a really good science fiction movie atmosphere.
See more at http://monolithonthemoon.tk/her-2013-spike-jonze/