Her (2013)
The rise of technology and social media has been a topic widely explored throughout the previous decade of cinema as the conversation has been explored from multiple perspectives and takes. One of the most powerful investigations of this topic comes from Spike Jonze's 2013 film Her which follows a man named Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who still accepting with his recent divorce, ends up falling in love with an operating system named Samantha (Scarlett Johansson). Where the plot on paper might sound contrived and difficult to feel a connection to, the movie near flawlessly pulls its emotions off creating a raw and emotional gut-punch of a film.
One of the main reasons the film is able to pull off such an out-there plot is because of the world it builds. Where the movie does take place in Los Angeles, it is a futuristic version of the city that brings a dream uncanny to the world. Everything is off and very specific when it comes to its production design and color schemes. Instead of using this to create tension, the film uses a pastel color palette and lens flares to knock the natural emotional defenses of the audience down allowing the more contrived and fantastical elements of the film that would stand out as overly unnatural to work. The little bits of fantasy and dreaminess in the world opens the door for a story with bits of fantasy and really was needed for the film to even start to have the conversation it is trying to have.
With that said, the actual conversation the film is having might be based in fantasy but at its heart is extremely real and grounded. Even more so than a story chronicling a romance, Her documents the aftermath of a breakup. Theodore is consistently haunted by his past marriage to a woman named Catherine (Rooney Mara) and it is that pain that allows him to look for comfort in Samantha. Theodore desperately wants to have someone there with him and is willing to buy into a relationship with Samantha even if there are clear issues and struggles between them. Samantha serves as a bandage to Theorodre's pain and seeing him have to confront his deeper emotions creates a captivating experience that sucks the audience in and makes the character interesting. So much of this comes through the performance from Joaquin Phoenix who comes off so personable and natural in his performance. As expected from the actor, he is so perfectly able to build a performance that has elements of pain and sadness without losing the humanity and happiness that his character may experience. Theodore feels like a real person as he goes through the ups and downs of life and dating allowing the audience to connect with him and for his character to serve as a tie to reality in a world filled with fantasy. It also helps that Phoenix has shockingly great chemistry with Scarlett Johansson despite her role being strictly voice acting. Not only is Johansson able to show so much personality in her voice performance but she is able to go back and forth with Phoenix leading to a real relationship blooming between them. Without getting heavily into spoilers, the character of Samantha also luckily is able to avoid many of the cliches that come with characters who are made from technology and is able to bring a fresh perspective to a character like this.
Even past the emotions present within the film, Her in many ways feels like a work of art on a technical level. As mentioned, the film in nearly every element takes a futuristic approach when it comes to designs leading to technical elements such as the costumes and sets really sticking out as fresh and inspired. The film's use of color alone is breathtaking not to mention the cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema adding to his already insanely stacked lineup of work. The music coming from the band Arcade Fire also perfectly encapsulates this world and the tone the film is going for with the main original song The Moon Song standing out as a soft yet beautiful manifestation of love and happiness.
The film undoubtedly has some huge successes and does overall connect really well but in each viewing, it remains clear that the portion where the film struggles is the ending. It isn't even that the ending is terrible, it has some truly heartbreaking moments and emotions that wraps up the relationship between Theodore and Samantha nicely in a unique way that feels natural and not overly predictable. Where it ends the relationship nicely, it is in how it concludes the deeper story that the ending of Her ends up falling short. The film feels confused about what it wants its final purpose to be trying to blend messages on relationships, technology, and what happiness is altogether in an ending that doesn't add much of value to any of those conversations. To be fair, it doesn't ruin the impact of those conversations throughout the rest of the film but it undoubtedly fails to provide a true conclusion to the thesis the film was trying to build.
Despite an overall lackluster ending, Her remains an overall impactful and powerful experience. The film mixes raw emotion with colorful art to create a world and characters unlike any other. It is near impossible to watch Her and not fall for the film in some way. From love to technology, the film has many messages but still feels organized and well put together as a single experience not running in a million different directions. Her is easily one of the most dreamy and unique films of the decade and definitely worth the time to check out not just once but multiple times.
Even past the emotions present within the film, Her in many ways feels like a work of art on a technical level. As mentioned, the film in nearly every element takes a futuristic approach when it comes to designs leading to technical elements such as the costumes and sets really sticking out as fresh and inspired. The film's use of color alone is breathtaking not to mention the cinematography from Hoyte van Hoytema adding to his already insanely stacked lineup of work. The music coming from the band Arcade Fire also perfectly encapsulates this world and the tone the film is going for with the main original song The Moon Song standing out as a soft yet beautiful manifestation of love and happiness.
The film undoubtedly has some huge successes and does overall connect really well but in each viewing, it remains clear that the portion where the film struggles is the ending. It isn't even that the ending is terrible, it has some truly heartbreaking moments and emotions that wraps up the relationship between Theodore and Samantha nicely in a unique way that feels natural and not overly predictable. Where it ends the relationship nicely, it is in how it concludes the deeper story that the ending of Her ends up falling short. The film feels confused about what it wants its final purpose to be trying to blend messages on relationships, technology, and what happiness is altogether in an ending that doesn't add much of value to any of those conversations. To be fair, it doesn't ruin the impact of those conversations throughout the rest of the film but it undoubtedly fails to provide a true conclusion to the thesis the film was trying to build.
Despite an overall lackluster ending, Her remains an overall impactful and powerful experience. The film mixes raw emotion with colorful art to create a world and characters unlike any other. It is near impossible to watch Her and not fall for the film in some way. From love to technology, the film has many messages but still feels organized and well put together as a single experience not running in a million different directions. Her is easily one of the most dreamy and unique films of the decade and definitely worth the time to check out not just once but multiple times.