Her

I just watched the film Her. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I need to see it again as there are too many details and layers to this film to fully allow to envelope me in one sitting. At the heart of the film is a love story. As the tagline describes--a writer (Joaquin Phoenix) falls in love with his computer’s operating system (Scarlett Johansson). It’s about romantic relationships and understanding when you need to move on. It presents a future where we’ve surrendered our loneliness to the internet and accepted artificial intelligence fully into our lives--therefore a not so distant future. Modern society is already on its journey to this state of being as we find solace in social media and the constant noise of being plugged in at all times on our phones, tablets (and now watches and google glass) allowing us to avoid having to be alone with ourselves. But the film is also about creation, reality, evolution, and questioning what love really is. The duality of Theodore and Samantha’s journey unwinds within several layers of ideas and hypotheses, like the script is one long night of deep thoughts about the universe between friends. Aside from the script are great performances and a gorgeous color palette used in the set design and wardrobe--orange, red, yellow and pink provide the hues of the future. I can’t wait to see it again.