Her

I had high expectations for Spike Jonze's new film Her and I can safely say that those expectations were met. Her is a really sweet film about human emotion, love and happiness and the different ways we seek it. I am big fan of romance films that push the boundaries and try something new, hence why Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind is one of my favourites. Her takes the sci-fi element of A.I and doesn't have it destroy the world at the end, it uses it in a different way, to explore the need for social and human interaction.

Set slightly in the future, Her follows Theodore Twombly after his recent breakup with his wife. Lost and lonely Theodore finds love with a new A.I operating system named Samantha. The two go through the highs and lows of relationships as well as exploring what it means to be human, especially if you can't be because you're a computer.

The relationship is helped made real by the brilliant performances of Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson, who really are good in this film, they turn the unconventional relationship into something believable. This is more Phoenix's show though, he holds the piece together as the ever sweet and lovely Theodore, you can tell Spike Jonze knew this as well because the film is pretty much made of just close ups of his face.

Although it mainly is made of close ups the film still looks really beautiful. The soft camera focus really brings warmth to the story as well as helping realise a futuristic hipster like Los Angeles. There are some really cool looking gadgets in the film that are never to far from the reality of today. The whole film doesn't seem to far from a truth that could soon be realised.

I spent a lot of the film wondering how it would end and I think Jonze did too, because unfortunately the final act feels a bit rushed compared to the slow burning build of the relationship throughout the film. The film connected to me on a basic emotional level but I was still left wanting more. Don't get me wrong, I still think Her was great and I was happy that it was as good as I had hoped it would be, but it did not hit me as hard emotionally as I thought it would.

The writing and style of the whole piece is really well done and I feel that Jonze was able to get across his message nicely in the film, however I do feel it could have been a bit shorter as it started to drag a little near the end. The good points of this film very much outweigh the bad, that are really just small personal niggles for me. I am rating Her a 4/5.

What did you think of Her? Let me know in the comments below.

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