Her
Go! See your computer...differently.
Could you love a computer?
I got my first taste* of an operating system (OS) in about 1994, when my dad got a honking great big, manky grey-white, Dell desktop PC, running Windows 3.1. Looking back, it was mainly rubbish. A couple of years later, we shoved a skinny cable into its bottom and after a lot of whining and bonging and complaining, we were able to go onto the world wide web. Ooh - then it was amazing. What an era - the beautiful innocence of having just seven web pages that each took 20 minutes to load is something long forgotten.
This is because since we started sticking cables into their bottoms, computers have become power-hungry maniacs. Like Miley Cyrus, they have lost most of their inanimate, youthful innocence through gratuitous volumes of pornography, neknominations, heinous tweeting by David Cameron and videos of cats playing the trombone. With the arrival of Her on our big screens, I have learnt that computers will soon become so consumed by power that not only will they continue to steal our jobs and the minds of our children, but they have designs on having relationships with all of our finest moustachioed, long-crotch-trousered men as well! No! Surely not!?
This is because since we started sticking cables into their bottoms, computers have become power-hungry maniacs. Like Miley Cyrus, they have lost most of their inanimate, youthful innocence through gratuitous volumes of pornography, neknominations, heinous tweeting by David Cameron and videos of cats playing the trombone. With the arrival of Her on our big screens, I have learnt that computers will soon become so consumed by power that not only will they continue to steal our jobs and the minds of our children, but they have designs on having relationships with all of our finest moustachioed, long-crotch-trousered men as well! No! Surely not!?
Her tells the tale of the moustachioed, long-crotch-trousered Thodore Twombly (played by Whakeen Feenicks aka. Joaquin Phoenix), a man who lives a little bit in the future and works as a beautifulhandwrittenletters.com letter writer (think moonpig.com gone mad). He is a lonely, sensitive and a little whiny; going through a divorce and living near the sky in his glassy, high-rise flat. His world is full of ear-pieces, voice activated technology and hand held devices - not far from where we are now...Until one day, when the world's first Artificial Intelligence OS arrives. Promising a computer with a personality that "understands" its users, and in desperate need of a pal, Theodore uploads the system and within minutes is talking to his OS "Samantha" (Scarlett Johansson) who has a sultry voice that sounds remarkably similar to Scarlett Johansson's. Gradually, the inevitable happens - not only does he become more efficient with his emails, but before long, some awkward aural sex ensues and Theodore falls fully in love with the voice in his right ear.
The rest of the film is about how his relationship with Samantha develops, and where it stutters - most of which riffs off fairly conventional love stories, with the minor difference that the woman in this instance doesn't physically exist. You know...boy meets OS...boy falls in love with OS...boy loses OS...Standard stuff. That's really all you need to know. The rest will be fully down to your own opinion on the idea of falling in love with an OS (the potential societal taboo of which is dealt with in the film). Menacing or sweet? Inevitable or impossible? It raises big questions about intimacy and humanity that will most certainly provide you with a good amount of dinner table conversation for at least two weeks after seeing the film. So that's good.
The rest of the film is about how his relationship with Samantha develops, and where it stutters - most of which riffs off fairly conventional love stories, with the minor difference that the woman in this instance doesn't physically exist. You know...boy meets OS...boy falls in love with OS...boy loses OS...Standard stuff. That's really all you need to know. The rest will be fully down to your own opinion on the idea of falling in love with an OS (the potential societal taboo of which is dealt with in the film). Menacing or sweet? Inevitable or impossible? It raises big questions about intimacy and humanity that will most certainly provide you with a good amount of dinner table conversation for at least two weeks after seeing the film. So that's good.
The acting is perfectly decent (Amy Adams and Olivia Newton also feature) particularly considering the difficulties of making such a relationship seem emotionally realistic. While it was often easy to get distracted by Whakeen's moustache and long-crotched trousers (I wondered why I would need to look like such a numpty in the future) in choosing such a particular look and feel to the film, director Spike Jonze (Where the Wild Things Are) has created a world close enough to ours, but one where falling in love with a computer feels unnervingly plausible. While Her is a weighed down by an occasionally immature and often predictable execution, the challenging concept consistently keeps this film interesting and watchable; making its win for Best Original Screenplay at the Oscars more or less justifiable.
So, go. Unless you are having an intimate relationship with your iPhone's Siri and have been looking for a film that means you can explain this to your friends ("It's just like in HER!") it is unlikely to change your life. But as a film, it is something a bit different. It is pleasantly shot, there are a few laughs and it is a gently ticklish take on where our current flirtation with technology will probably take us...for better, or for worse...
*Please note that I never actually tasted my operating system, you know, with my mouth. I feel that in this context, that is important to clarify.
So, go. Unless you are having an intimate relationship with your iPhone's Siri and have been looking for a film that means you can explain this to your friends ("It's just like in HER!") it is unlikely to change your life. But as a film, it is something a bit different. It is pleasantly shot, there are a few laughs and it is a gently ticklish take on where our current flirtation with technology will probably take us...for better, or for worse...
*Please note that I never actually tasted my operating system, you know, with my mouth. I feel that in this context, that is important to clarify.
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