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[/amazon_link]Rating : 3.5/5
I was intrigued when I saw the trailer for Her. What an interesting premise! Isaac Asimov in his books and short stories has written about a society where humanoid robots are ubiquitous and hard to tell apart from humans, so lifelike are they. With the growing “smartness” of our devices, it is not a far stretch to imagine an intuitive, artificially intelligent operating system – a far advanced cousin of the sometimes witty Siri.
This OS gives itself a name, Samantha, and speaks in Scarlett Johansen’s voice. Samantha makes divorced writer Theodore Twonbly (Joaquin Phoenix) very happy because she is smart, efficient and almost like a real person minus the physical presence, filling his lonely hours with lively conversation and humorous suggestions. Everything is good until Samantha starts evolving, and develops cumbersome human-like feelings.
I’m not a big Spike Jonze fan; I didn’t like “Being John Malkovich”. Her, however is kind of a sweet film. It portrays Twombly – he writes beautiful, moving letters for a living (apparently in the slight future, you can earn actual money doing that) – as someone who’s having a hard time coming to terms with his loneliness post-divorce and is still hanging on to memories of his wife, Catherine. Catherine (Rooney Mara) is angry and hurt and hints at the many problems in the relationship. You do sympathise with Catherine, but the film makes you feel for Twombly’s plight in spite of all the negative aspersions cast on his character.
The film itself is very slow, with many scenes where the dialogue appears muted, and others where nothing happens physically – we might watch the character think, or just sit or lie in bed ruminating – Twombly is portrayed as just that kind of person. I can see where you might want the film to pick up, but stories like these are best told at their own pace, with space for contemplation and feeling. Post-watch, as I write this review, I am left with a feeling that it was a beautiful poignant film.
P.S.: What’s with high-waisted pants of the future?
