Joaquin Phoenix is all around sympathetic, genuine, and passionate portraying Theodore. From the beginning you can just see him as pathetic, but when he interacts with Samantha, the true side of him is present. Plus sometimes you can get the feeling that you probably know someone personally who is a lot like Theodore the more you think about it. The thought, for me at least, was eerie but fascinating. It is a terrific performance. And though throughout off screen, Johansson gives an incredible an unforgettable performance as the O.S. Samantha. Though she was programmed to develop human-like emotions, despite that fact all her dialogue seems incredibly genuine. This type of behavior can bring up a lot of open ended questions, which I will address later. Samantha can just be considered as a three-dimensional developed and likable character along with the rest of the cast of this film. Though she is an operating system, the film succeeds in making the audience believe she is real, as Theodore does himself. Amy Adams stars in this film as well and does play a prominent character surprisingly named, Amy, who is a friend of Theodore. She's fun, supportive, and likable and is quite fit in this world. Other characters appear such as Olivia Wilde as girl Theodore briefly dates and Rooney Mara as his ex-wife. Both succeed to be entertaining and fascinating in their scenes despite the short amount of screen time they have. Not one character in the film is unlikable, all are entertaining, charming, and feel real to the audience.
This has to be one of the best directed films I have seen in a while. Not only does Spike Jonze succeed in creating and brining life to all these memorable characters by working an taking advantage of this fantastic cast, but he creates beautiful scenery that not only looks stunning but has tons of atmosphere to them. A simple bedroom or living room can look wondrous or stunning because of the way these sets look and how the shots are set up. Jonze is like the world's best photographer who is able to make his pictures move. And granted that is the job of the director, but Jonze fully gets what it means to be a director. His control and guidance of the film is fully present and succeeds in making his vision and inspiring reality. But also, the story is one of the best I have seen in a long time as well. It's original, creative, it creates questions for the audience, it's inspiring, it's romantic, it has atmosphere, it's passionate, it has almost everything you want in a story for a film. The most fascinating thing the film's story presents is its commentary about the advancement of technology in today's world. The question, is it making us more dependent or is doing something for the better? A good of example of this is the main premise of the film and how it is finally presented to the audience. When you hear the premise of this story, a man falls in love with his artificially intelligent operating system, basically a Siri with actual human emotions, you automatically think stupid, silly, and unnecessary pretentiousness. At first it sounds idiotic, but the more you see Theodore and Samantha actually bonding and developing a romance between each other, you really start to believe it. Which comes across the question again, is the advancement of technology making us too dependent or is it for the better? Is this a cautionary tale or is this a film that is presenting us with an original, unique, and touching love story? On top of that, was Samantha specifically programmed to please Theodore's needs to the point where he falls in love with her, or was Samantha programmed to develop relationships like a real person to which is why she starts to fall in love with Theodore. To some this is real love, to some this is fake love, so what is the definition of real love if the love between Theodore and Samantha seems genuine? It is an unique romance that leaves the audience with a lot of open-ended questions like that. Name me ONE romance film that does this, because none comes to my mind, at least of what I have heard of! This is an original story that brings up a lot of thought provoking, and I ADORE films like that. They fulfill the purpose of being a film, to be art. And with art, the summary and reaction to it is always subjective to the individual. The meaning of the art can be different from one individual to another. And the fact that this is a love story is very inspiring! The way I am talking about this film, you know it is one of my top favorites of the year, without a doubt! It's imaginative, it's creative, it's original, it's romantic, it's heartwarming, it's charming, it's thought provoking, it has wonderful atmosphere, it's well-written both story and dialogue, I said enough about it, go and see it, and I guarantee you WILL love Her as much as I do!
GRADE: AE
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