Review: Her

BY JEREMY HAAS

Imagine our country 30 years from now, perhaps even as little as 20. What will things look like?  Will we still be obsessed with our smart phones? How much more realistic will our video games be? Maybe in this not-so-far-off future, our technology will be even more personalized and crucial to everyday life. Maybe mustaches will make an even bigger comeback. In Spike Jonze’s Her, predictions come to fruition in a world that is oddly similar to the one we are living in now.  Well, at least that’s how things begin.

Meet Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonesome, thirty-something year old writer, freshly divorced, and living alone.  Twombly spends his days playing hyper-realistic future video games and sulkily reminiscing about his failed marriage with Catherine (Rooney Mara). His friends recognize the awkward tension that surrounds him and attempt to help, but their efforts are to no avail.  Our timid protagonist is in a serious rut.  That is until his computer gets a brand new Operating System named Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).  This breathy-voiced computer is designed to evolve psychologically like a human being, and eventually, it (she?) forms a romantic relationship with the hopelessly lost Theodore Twombly.

While, this romance is unnatural and unconventional, the duo is actually extremely happy together for a time.  Maybe Her is making a statement, considering the fact that most characters really don’t look at Twombly all that weirdly when he mentions he’s dating a computer.  The film even manages to engage the audience in the concept and at one point, the idea of their relationship doesn’t seem too absurd.  This lack of bewilderment in the theater, and in Spike Jonze’s Sci-Fi universe, serves as a social critique.  Her takes a look at our ever evolving dependence on technology, and with some careful development, eases us into a world where people literally fall in love with their latest gadgets.

That isn’t to say, however, that Her strictly exists to criticize the state of our technology crunch.  It’s also an interesting take on the classic romantic feelings we all connect to within films.  The movie has some lovable characters, that Jonze take the time to development. Take Theodore Twombly for example. He’s lonely enough to fall in love with a computer, skeptical enough to know something’s wrong, and yet, human enough to become convinced that their relationship is real.  He longs so much for companionship that he looks right over the fact that he’s in love with a computer, one that just happens to be designed for him.

Her also dazzles with its subtleties in setting and cinematography. Scenes of Twombly walking around the crowded Los Angeles serve to emphasize his isolation, with and without his mechanical girlfriend.  Extreme close-ups strongly outline his emotions and leave an unsettling feeling resonating throughout the theatre.  Los Angeles circa whatever-year-humanoid-operating-systems were invented is a stunning place, and Her allows it to shine as a picturesque cityscape.

In a way, Her is reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, a classic romance story with a thought-provoking sci-fi twist. Spike Jonze may have just created another classic, a relatable, romantic, and yet critical classic.