Sunday, July 13, 2014

Her (Movie Review by Bob Racine)



                             2 hrs & 6 min, color, 2013

“Sometimes I think I’ve felt everything I’m ever going to feel, and from here on out I’m not going to feel anything new.”  The man who utters these words goes by the name of Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a computer processor in a society at some distance into the future.  His specific function is the writing of letters on behalf of faceless individuals who do not wish to compose their own, intended for relatives or wives or lovers or friendly acquaintances of those persons, who are equally unknown to him.  What appears to be a task that links our man to a sizeable assortment of humanity is in actuality a lonely profession.  He is in effect a ghost writer, and the danger of ghost writing is the possibility that you yourself will become a ghost, a lifeless functionary without solidity of purpose or solidarity of form.  Apparently in his many composings he feels as if he has exhausted his cache of originality, emptying himself of self.  That he is in the final stages of getting divorced adds to his sense of quandary.                 

We have seen the likes of him in many motion pictures of the last fifty years.  An introspective soul yearning for connection, particularly romantic connection, but unable to master the art of intimacy, and let us make no mistake about it, creating intimacy is an art.  But in this futuristic society, something has become scientifically possible that offers the Theodores of the world a way to cope, if only for a limited time.  It is called “the world’s first artificially intelligent operating system.”  Its purveyors claim that it is not just a system but “a form of consciousness.”   One can create through computer ingenuity a lover or companion of one’s choosing, an operational system (os for short) that speaks in a voice already equipped and toned exactly to fit the fantasy composition of the receiver’s mind and imagination.  The unseen personality is constructed out of Theodore’s answers to leading questions about his life and background, fed into the circuitry, clues to what he would like his intimacy partner to be, and it is all done within seconds. 

Before he knows it, he is speaking to Samantha, a friendly, relaxed voice (provided by Scarlett Johansson) that (or maybe we should say who) relates to him and coaxes him into a form of sharing he has never really known.  She has been constructed just for him.  She exists to bring him and him alone the joy of companionship.  They can call on each other any hour of the day or night, and do.  She projects the aura of a very strong, imaginative personality and intelligence and comes with her own varied, human-like emotions.  She can even make things happen on line that he does not instruct her to make happen.  Whatever she does, however, is done for the purpose of pleasing him.  In time they fall in love (an apparently unusual development), and that is when the way becomes somewhat slippery for both of them. 

I have had conversations with several people about the future depicted in Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” as compared with the twenty-first century as it has really evolved.  We have a space station, and voice print identification has come about in some places.  What has not come to pass is the travel of humans to other planets, though there are trends that are leading in that direction.  One phenomenon, however, that plays a big part in the story and I hope NEVER materializes is HAL, the computer that not only talks but takes on human emotion and the capability of independent thought and action.  As most of you surely know, HAL turns psychotic and becomes murderous.  I know that when Samantha started to speak and act, a slight shudder passed through me recollecting the fiasco that HAL’s form of artificial intelligence becomes.  That is one eventuality I would take great pleasure in averting altogether.  My prayer to God is: “Please let computers remain what they are – inanimate machines that work according to designs that humans conceive and control, however advanced and however fanciful their encasements turn out to be and however rapidly they are equipped to produce results.  May their “voices” always be limited to digital transcription and computation.  Please, no mimicking of the moods and whims and volatilities of the human species!” 

I am pleased to report that nothing horrific takes place in “Her.”  Only pains of the heart do we experience with Theodore, as he becomes involved with his os, who proves to be far more of a human challenge than he might have guessed.  Early in the story she tells him that she is afraid that she is going to feel nothing more than what she has been programmed to feel.  This remark gives us an advanced clue about the complication his involvement with her is certain to become.  We know at once that she will exceed all the specifications of her creators.

The set decoration by Allen Coulter, the art direction by Austin Gorg and the overall production designing by K.K. Barrett demand from me a very special mention.  Some of the most singularly inspired work in these domains that I have ever absorbed – far out, but not that far out – has been perfected. 

A genius named Spike Jonze is responsible for the creation of “Her.”  Both the screenplay (for which he won an Oscar) and the directing are his alone.  His dialogue is keen-edged, transparent and extraordinarily intelligent.  Aside from emotionally gripping and spell-casting, the picture is quite amusing.  I would call it a situational comedy-drama, the laughs inherent in the situation.  For instance, Theodore sounds unintentionally funny when he speaks with his ex-wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) about his new flame and just casually mentions that she is an os.  In this future society it appears that os’s have become a commonplace option widely employed, hence his matter-of-factness in disclosing her computerized identity.  And that is not the only fun Jonze has with his disembodied female, but he never comes anywhere close to campy ridiculousness.  There is a purity of form from which he never deviates and which he never compromises.  He makes us believe in the simple process being depicted, however fantastic it may seem to us.                       

The performances are uniformly superb as well.  Phoenix in low key hits his mark during every emotional encounter, generating great sympathy.   He never looks or sounds silly.  Amy Adams adds to her trove of good characterizations as the wife of a friend who, subsequent to her breakup with her husband, also enlists the support of an os.  And Scarlett Johansson, though never seen, is dynamic in her portrayal.  Samantha will be hard to forget.   

A real mind-bender as well as rib tickler and heart tugger!  A somewhat rare combination!

 
To read other entries in my blog, please consult its website:  enspiritus.blogspot.com.  To learn about me consult on the website the blog entry for August 9, 2013.

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