Go to Her

Rating: 10/10 (2 February 2014)

What comes into your mind when you hear love being described as 'Love knows no boundaries' and 'Love is blind'? The answer to this question will have to be divided into Pre-Her and Post-Her.
Before watching Her, I would have said the love descriptions above are cheesy. Not only that it sounds like a fantasy, it makes the idea of love totally unrelatable too, at least for me.
In order to give both literal and figurative meanings to those, Spike Jonze has decided to redefine relationships by delivering a masterpiece. Set in the near future, Her is about a loner who gets into an intimate relationship with his Artificial Intelligence Operating System, Samantha. There are two ways to go about the film. One would be to watch and grab the entertainment it provides on the surface. But that wasn't the purpose the movie was made for.
Her is all about understanding the idea of relationships itself. Her pin points the weak relationships humans share in the current era by showing its fate in the slight future. Her depicts things that would happen if we give permission for technologies to control our daily life. The movie starts off with Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) at his workplace. As a man who is experiencing a lonely life due to a break up and soon-to-happen divorce, his world is extremely quiet. His communications, job and entertainment are all heavily dependent on technologies. One day, he decides to buy a new Operating System. It is an artificial intelligence based OS which grows on itself. The moment Samantha (OS voiced by Scarlett Johansson) enters his life, the movie gears up for an enthralling ride. As the story progresses, we would come to the realization that Theodore is not a distinguished character in the film. In a society where weak relationships, break ups, divorces, sex-based relationships are dominant; meaningful conversations are given no time (described via protagonist's occupation); uber cool technologies are allowed to construct our daily life, he is just a typical sample of the set. Look closely into the film and you will see yourself in Theodore too. Samantha is another strong character whom completes Theodore. Casting director has done an the most excellent job by picking Scarlett Johansson to carry out the task. It is arduous to make you admire, adore, feel for, cry for and finally hate a character, only by its' voice. Hats off to Scarlett for pulling it off with ease!
What I love (and fascinated) most about the film is of course, the relationship between Theodore and Samantha. Although human-OS based, but it is nothing short of romance, love, pain, trust and betrayal. It resembles real relationships cent per cent! That is when you will realize we do not fall for a person for their physical appearance, but for what is within, regardless of the type or medium (or in this case, medium-less!). Hollywood's library should be very proud of owning outstanding love stories like Titanic, Brokeback Mountain, The Reader, Revolutionary Road and now, Her.
Today, Her stands as one of the finalists of Academy Award's Best Film, because the amazing content and screen writing has been backed up by sound technicalities. The red and yellow color palette used throughout the film is for sure a refreshing experience! For an intense drama, editors Jeff Buchanan and Eric Zumbrunnen has made full justice by providing simple yet powerful narrative sequences (especially the flash back footage). Hoyte has sure brought 'everything is happening next door' effect with his adequate use of lenses. Art direction by Austin Gorg spells perfect from start to finish.
Go to Her and she will let you know that love is indeed blind and knows no boundaries, at all.