“Her” is a cautionary tale that offers warning where none is needed, a diffuse and sentimental admonition to put the smartphone down, push away from the computer, turn off the TV, unplug the game controller, and connect with people. The overly plugged-in Theodore, himself a skillful and modest perpetrator of electronically enabled deceptions, is ready for his comeuppance. And he’s already bruised: he is going through a painful divorce from Catherine (Rooney Mara), with whom he had been together for decades living alone, he freely admits to his friend and neighbor, Amy (Amy Adams), that he is addicted to video games and Internet porn (we see plenty of the former, only a hint of the latter). Fair warning though: "Her" is a bit unsettling and it will leave people extremely weirded out, but "Her" is downright arresting.From the movie’s very first scene, an extreme closeup of Theodore dictating a love letter on the occasion of a fiftieth anniversary that’s not his own (that’s his job, as a writer at a company that produces personal letters for hire), it’s obvious that Theodore, a cog in a cheerfully ruthless machine of technological simulacra for human connections, is coming in for a bruising. Without a doubt was "12 Years a Slave" the big winner for best picture, but "Her" comes in at a close 2nd or 3rd for me. Everything from the melancholy tone, to the symbolic imagery, to the captivating and infectious narrative, "Her" was a huge surprise for me. It's a film crafted and paced so superbly, there seems to be no wrong note Jonze plays with this film. To put it in one word, the film as a whole is beautiful. There's no way these emotions would have been portrayed if Jonze didn't utilize the method that he inhabits with this flick. Emotions such as sadness, laughter, the sense of hope, the desire of love, and confusion are exceedingly palpable but not so much in a way that it's thrown in audiences faces - it gracefully settles in, making the movie not so much of a viewing but more of an experience. Without a doubt, "Her" is more of a quiet piece so you won't find much dialogue here ala "Lost in Translation", but Jonze doesn't impose this method in a swaggering way - he portrays it with perfection. His performance is a work of art.īut the biggest achievement that "Her" feats is the phenomenal narrative powered by a supercharged screenplay/directing on behalf of Spike Jonze himself. Now I've never seen Matthew's best acting performance in "Dallas Buyer's Club" to rightfully say whether his performance in that was any better than Phoenix's in "Her", but in no way should Phoenix be thrown in the back burner. I don't care about his past troubles this guy's talented. It works marvelously with its comedic but yet love/heartbreak themes.īut even though the cinematography was vibrant, boy, Joaquin Phoenix plays an absolutely magnetic and nuanced performance. Colors pop with soft textures throughout but tiptoed in with a subtle melancholy tone. Every single shot is a respectful homage to "Lost In Translation" with some "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and with a little Wes Anderson peppered in. Well, after being nearly 1 year late watching this movie, I could say, "Her" would sure as hell won for best cinematography if "Gravity" never fell on our laps. Quite possibly one of the greatest shot films ever crafted. Let's be real: "Gravity" was just unreal. Funnily, "Her" isn't much of a departure in comparison to Jonze's earlier work, but it is, without a doubt, his most captivating. They come off as too weird or too alienating for many ("Being John Malkovich" anyone?). Now as for starters, I am not a big fan of Spike Jonze's pictures.
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