02-07-2019, 11:50 PM
Her (2013)
A beautiful film, spearheaded by two wonderful lead performances. Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant, subtle performance. The conceit of the film means it's a lot of him talking to his phone. But when you have an actor that good, just go medium, and close up anytime you need the emotion to land. Even when the script stretches credulity, I always buy it. Scarlett Johansson gives my favorite performance of hers. I have liked her in a lot of things but nothing comes close to the feelings she's able to convey with her voice. Playing an OS learning to become more human and beyond seems incredibly difficult but she's always exactly what the scene needs. Any conversation between Phoenix and Johansson in the last half of the movie shows how great they both are. Spike Jonze's composition is of course interesting and stylish while not being overly so (and still serving the story). The only thing that didn't totally work for me was the Amy character. I fully understand the contrast of human-human relationship to human-AI but I just didn't understand how her relationship fit in thematically. I would have preferred if that part was gone. Though Theodore needs a human friend, and that poignant, stirring, simple ending wouldn't work without it. I also rolled my eyes at him composing the email to his ex-wife. I have two ex-wives and, to avoid spoilers I'll just say it doesn't work like that. Other than those quibbles though, this is pretty much a masterpiece for me. Oh, and the music! It was spot on.
A beautiful film, spearheaded by two wonderful lead performances. Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant, subtle performance. The conceit of the film means it's a lot of him talking to his phone. But when you have an actor that good, just go medium, and close up anytime you need the emotion to land. Even when the script stretches credulity, I always buy it. Scarlett Johansson gives my favorite performance of hers. I have liked her in a lot of things but nothing comes close to the feelings she's able to convey with her voice. Playing an OS learning to become more human and beyond seems incredibly difficult but she's always exactly what the scene needs. Any conversation between Phoenix and Johansson in the last half of the movie shows how great they both are. Spike Jonze's composition is of course interesting and stylish while not being overly so (and still serving the story). The only thing that didn't totally work for me was the Amy character. I fully understand the contrast of human-human relationship to human-AI but I just didn't understand how her relationship fit in thematically. I would have preferred if that part was gone. Though Theodore needs a human friend, and that poignant, stirring, simple ending wouldn't work without it. I also rolled my eyes at him composing the email to his ex-wife. I have two ex-wives and, to avoid spoilers I'll just say it doesn't work like that. Other than those quibbles though, this is pretty much a masterpiece for me. Oh, and the music! It was spot on.
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