Emma S
The film Her (Spike Jonze, 2013) is a thought provoking image of a possible future, that continues to be relevant more than a decade after it has come out. The film explores love, loneliness, and what it means to be human through the story of a man who falls in love with an artificial intelligence program. I found this movie to be incredibly well done, both technically and narratively, and I appreciate the way Jonze leaned in to making the audience uncomfortable, and the way so every choice is so clearly intentional.
Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore, a man divorcing his wife whose career consists of writing letters for other people. The contradiction between his job and personal life is clear: while his ex wife scolds him for his lack of emotional intimacy, he spends his time writing—and feeling—for other people. Phoenix’s performance is one of the most important aspects of this film; after all, he spends much of the time as the only actor in the scene. The other main character, Samantha, is brought to life only through Scarlett Johansson’s portrayal of the artificial voice. His performance is believable and compelling (as is Johansson’s), despite the challenges of not having a screen partner. In fact, every actor in this movie does amazingly, from Amy Adams as Theodore’s best friend, and Rooney Mara’s brief performance as Theodore’s ex-wife.
What has stuck with me about this film is its cinematography, and specifically its use of color. The world Jonze creates is desaturated, overwhelmed mostly in shades of blue. In the beginning of the film, Theodore stands out starkly against the background, in a series of bright red shirts. OS1, the operating system that Theodore falls in love with, is also a bright red in a sea of blues. This immediately connects the two characters, though the meaning of the color (love? lust? pain? blood? anger?) is unclear to both the audience and the characters.
The film ends with the fleeing of all of the AIs, leaving Theodore to rebuild his relationships with the people around him. This scene solidifies Her as a film about people and love, rather than one about technology, but I think this choice leaves a lot of questions the film brings up uncommented on. I wish Her decided what it was trying to say about technology, rather than using it as a framework for a different story.
There is so much more to say about this film, but I’ll leave you with this: if you haven’t already watched Her, it’s not too late. Despite (or because of) its lack of intentional commentary on technology, it leaves the audience with much to ponder, something I am a fan of. 3.5/5
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
11/21/24
Full Review
Spike K
“Her” is an increasingly relevant film as the world starts to grapple with the reality of AI, especially AI art. This science-fiction rom-com goes uniquely far in presenting a dystopia that is itself only a few steps from the present world. As “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” does with its memory removal services, “Her” presents a technological solution to a common problem in interpersonal relationships, this one being a loss of interpersonal connection solved via AI correspondence. One prominent way the film interrogates this is through its use of color, especially the introduction of red. The cinematography throughout, emphasizing the stark individuality of its protagonist is fascinating because of how it displays this idea of loneliness. The whole setting is cast in layers of blue and beige, while the protagonist is outlined in red. Another unique aspect of the film’s worldbuilding is how strategically and impersonally it is designed, with all characters split from one another and looming technological structures overtaking almost the whole world. The shots in much of the film emphasize this background and everything about this world as square, structural, gray, and inhuman. These things are explicitly not conflated with the presence of the OS, whose presence symbolically resolves some of the unnatural nature of the world, such as in the beach scene and vacation in the mountains. The film ultimately raises a lot of good questions about the relationship between the natural and unnatural and the ways that humanity imposes artificial structures onto itself in late-stage capitalism. The other very culturally relevant question that this raises, is the connection between art and AI. Melding Samantha’s compositions into the soundtrack of the film validate them as high art within it and establishes AI’s privilege to create art. The reversal of Theodore’s job of writing formulaic letters and emulating the emotional bonds of others and Samantha’s privilege of writing music to represent her emotions engages a very modern question of AI art, especially its role in depriving artists of their careers while purporting to be generally useful and free time for tasks like art. The actors, especially Scarlett Johansson do an exceptional job of balancing the line between serious engagement with the emotional content of the movie and the humor of the situation. One detail that shines through is how her speech changes during the film, starting more formulaic and artificial and growing in emotional content, but never going so far as to over-dramatize or make light of the content. The film enters an area between comedy and grim-dark and does a splendid job balancing these demands. Generally, this film has aged very well and still engages with questions that are incredibly relevant today about humanity, personhood, and the role of technology in solving interpersonal problems.
Rated 4.5/5 Stars •
Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars
11/14/24
Full Review
Dallas H
Ten years after this movie was released, we witnessed the launch of ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence programs. Now, with hindsight on how AI programs are infiltrating our daily lives, I see the flick as oddly optimistic about the integration of human and computer interactions in our daily lives.
Rated 3/5 Stars •
Rated 3 out of 5 stars
11/11/24
Full Review
Travis J
I love the soundtrack and coloring in this movie. Also an excellent perspective on the confusing male role in relationships.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/29/24
Full Review
Audience Member
This movie captures the essence of male lonlieness better then any red pill influencer or fresh and fit pod ever could. If you relate to this movie don’t entertain the alpha male rhetoric, it’s all a lie.
Rated 5/5 Stars •
Rated 5 out of 5 stars
10/25/24
Full Review
julio w
interesting story at that years, finally that story become reality right now, not only the story, the visual are impressive to, I'm always amazed by directors who prioritize good visuals.
Rated 3.5/5 Stars •
Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars
10/11/24
Full Review
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