"Her" review

Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) enjoys the rays.

DIRECTOR: Spike Jonze

CAST: Joaquin Phoenix,
             Scarlett Johansson, Amy Adams,
             Rooney Mara, Chris Pratt

RUNTIME: 126 minutes

PLOT: Set in an unspecified future,

             lonely writer Theodore (Phoenix)

             embarks on a relationship with 

             his new Operating System 

            (Johansson)

SPIKE JONZE IS ANYTHING BUT A 

CAUTIOUS FILMMAKER. A quick consultation with the auteurs IMDb filmography shows an unexpected amount of diversity, coupled with the sheer mass of content from which the diminutive writer/director can hang his hat on. Minor acting roles in Moneyball and The Wolf of Wall Street rub shoulders with Jackass appearances. Direction for music videos range in genre, from R.E.M to Tenacious D. His last feature, Where the Wild Things Are was an imaginative and daring film, pleasing critically but performing poorly commercially. His latest offering, Her, is sweet, funny, serious and symbolic, where Jonze adds another string to his ever increasing bow. 

Love at first sight between Theodore (Phoenix)
and Samantha (Johansson)

With Shanghai doubling for a postmodern Los Angeles, Jonze's contemporary fable examines our relationship with technology and a possible over-reliance on it. It is not hard to see parallels in this created universe, where people wander aimlessly, with sophisticated operating systems substituted for iPhones, Xbox Ones traded with hologram gaming devices, pine trees replaced with uninspiring video screens sporting scenery. An environmental activist himself, Jonze and his Director of Photography Hoyte Van Hoytema (Let the Right One In, The Fighter, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) light the film expressively, with vibrant colours, computer screens and LED bulbs illuminating Phoenix as he potters around his darkened apartment in the film's first act, with Arcade Fires score bubbling throughout these scenes. Emblematically, as his new muse encourages him to dream and move from his comfort zone (Physically and metaphorically), we see beautiful blood Los Angeles horizons mingle with Rocky Mountain-esque fjords, as Jonze juxtaposes the modern with nature. The directors little seen short film, I'm Here, is his most similar previous outing in tone and story, where a isolated robot (voiced by Andrew Garfield incidentally) tries to find companionship on the sun bleached, east-coast city of the United States. 

Divorcee Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) is a character impossible not to root for. Lonely, mildly depressed yet warm hearted, with his only emotional feelings found in his job, which consists of writing "Beautiful Hand-Made Letters" that people have grown too apathetic to print themselves. He wanders through life, uninterested with existence, rebuffing friends and potential dates, with a failed one (a brief Olivia Wilde) only exacerbating this helplessness more.  Craving emotional contact, after a contemporary, nauseating yet humorous attempt at online sex chatting, he installs a new sophisticated operating system named Samantha (Johansson) partly out of these isolated needs. Jonze keeps the story at a quick pace throughout this first act, often adhering to staple relationship signposts, with a "first date" to the funfair both endearing and fulfilling. This trend carries on as Theodore introduces his new cyber-partner to friends, in particular Amy (Adams), in an understated role that mirrors Twombly's current circumstances in more ways than one. Rising star Chris Pratt provides excellent support as a co-worker who embraces his colleagues lifestyle choices, even participating on a quirky double date with the odd couple.

Theodore (Phoenix) and Catherine (Mara) in happier times.

Joaquin Phoenix is a man inspired. After his bizarre stint out of acting to film faux-documentary I'm Still Here, he has roared back with The Master, bringing his darkly simmering rage so often synonymous with his characters. Here, he grounds Twombly, giving him a big, aching heart and a touching quality after a devastating split with a lifelong love (a cold and conflicted Rooney Mara) which is told through an assortment of deceptively vague flashbacks. A writer by trade, he smarts of Byron, Shelley and Wordsworth, desperately trapped in a pit of self inflicted despair. The sheer logistical aspect of developing a romantic story without acting opposite a person is masterfully done, with Phoenix taking this challenge across his checked-shirted shoulders. A pained expression or look of longing expressing more than a thousand words could. Scarlett Johansson, performs admirably, giving a genuine human quality to a box of wires and lights. Due to her husky and distinctive tones, we are able to form an image of Samantha in our minds due to prior knowledge, as she (it, thing?) begins as a naive and impressionable android, who grows to become the most important aspect of Theodore's world. By the end of the picture, the viewer not only stops questioning the morality of a relationship with a robot, but viewing it as extremely beneficial for our muted protagonist.

At 126 minutes run time, the story lags and feels a tad bloated. By the beginning of the third act, the film threatens to reach a conclusion with a definitive end, but this is bypassed quickly as Twombly frantically tries to keep his house of cards from toppling, extending the picture significantly. Amy Adams and Chris Pratt, although excellent performers, sometime feel tacked on without successfully advancing the story. The actual finish of the movie leaves the viewer begrudgingly found wanting, with its ambiguous tone not giving closure, advancing quickly and far too soon. His previous relationship is thinly sketched, with no insight offered as to why a marriage could so disastrously fall apart, despite the inclinations of the volatile and unstable Catherine (Mara) But then again, how many relationships have ended without closure or arriving unexpectedly? After reflection on a finished romance, the viewer is left with the extremely good memories, only slightly tinged with the bad ones.

VERDICT: Spike Jonze effortlessly crafts a parable underlayed with a variety of subtle undertones. Phoenix and Johansson provide one of the most original screen romances in modern history, yet both deceive charmingly and delightfully.