I realize that Scarlett Johansson has strikingly good looks, but I never could have imagined simply how far her voice could carry a movie. That is, before I saw Her. The heavy 2013 drama starring Joaquin Phoenix, which I saw on a plane to Abu Dhabi recently, caught my eye instantly as I scrolled through the possible films available. If you’ve never had the particular “pleasure” of enduring a 13-hour flight, I should tell you that it’s important to keep yourself occupied. In any case, I was eager to use my time more productively than in past flights – the last time I was on such a long journey, I ended up watching Anchorman 2 and That Awkward Moment, both of which proved to be utterly awful. No, this time I saw Her, which runs two hours and six minutes but feels more like a four hour long epic. Looking back, I regret overlooking Her and I realize now that I should have seen it earlier. Much, much earlier.In a future that doesn’t seem at all too distant, Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) develops an unorthodox love relationship with his Operating System (voice of Johansson) while struggling to handle a divorce with his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara).
The intense gravity of just how different this world is from ours hits us within the first few minutes. Everyone walks around in their own little worlds, absorbed by the comforts that modern technology can give them. In this way, Theodore just seems like an average guy, except we get to see every little detail of his life that he shares with the portable, almost-human voice in his ear that ends up making such a profound impact on his story. Amy Adams, Chris Pratt, and Olivia Wilde also have supporting roles, but it becomes pretty apparent early on that Theodore and his OS are exclusively the main characters.
I have an iPod Touch, but I’ve only ever used Siri a couple of times. Still, the concept of humans gradually becoming completely dependent on technology like Scarlett Johansson’s OS is definitely intriguing. It certainly makes the prospect of artificial intelligence taking over the world seem infinitely more real than any dystopian action movie I’ve seen (for instance, I, Robot). With people meeting online becoming a regular thing, it’s interesting to see how easily Theodore and those around him are swayed by the bodiless voices in their ears.
More than most movies I’ve seen, the plot of Her manages to come off as entirely believable. The film contains a great deal of mostly silent scenes that are punctured only by long, light-hearted conversations and beautifully soft music, allowing viewers to become fully captivated by the marvelously simple life of Theodore and his artificial companion.
When I mentioned earlier that Her feels as if it’s four hours long, I meant it. The director, Spike Jonze, clearly had no intentions of rushing things and spends what may be close to a third of the movie shooting scenic views of the apparently gorgeous-looking city of Los Angeles. I’ve never seen LA before, but in this world it looks much more updated and seems much more surreal. It turns out some of it was actually shot in Shanghai; all in all, the cinematography could not have been better.
The greatest thing about Her is that it makes you think. As I started to write this in my relatively cramped airline seat, my mind was still very much in the film. Even looking back a few weeks later, the significance of Her still has a great effect on me. I ponder about the simplest of things and think about my life as a whole; I reflect on my connections with my friends, my parents, and each of my five siblings; I reminisce on missed opportunities and my emotions rise to the surface, all because of one, single cinematic thrill. Besides perhaps The Social Network, I don’t believe a movie has ever made this much of an impact on me (Rooney Mara happens to be in both films). It’s films like these that, although they may not be that relatable, manage to feel entirely so. As a result, the events shown legitimately mean something and compel us to feel for the characters from beginning to end.
Even though I’m certainly a long way off from being where Theodore is in life, there lies something truly magical in watching him wander through life, undergoing the often intimidating feelings of separation, indecisiveness, and above all, commitment. It’s a strange love story that makes surprisingly legitimate points about modern culture and what it could become. Most significant, though, is that Her influenced me to reconsider life as I know it and it communicated to me life lessons that, albeit they seem cheesy in other movies, are sure to resonate within me for a while as a result of this extraordinary work of art.
I’m not going to forget Her for a long, long time.
4/4 stars
Published 2014
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