Movie Of The Week: her
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her (15)
Release: Friday 14 February
Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson
Synopsis: Set in the Los Angeles of the slight future, the story follows Theodore Twombly, a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive entity in its own right, individual to each user. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet "Samantha," a bright, female voice, who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other.
Why You Should See It: Spike Jonze has made a career out of inimitably quirky films that use an abstract or unusual scenario to hold a mirror up to a very real aspect of humanity. In “Being John Malkovich”, it was the utilisation of a portal that allowed a person the ability to be John Malkovich holding a mirror up to the innate escapism. In this, it's a lot simpler. The film examines our relationship with machinery by having Joaquin Phoenix fall in love with his AI-infused operating system.
The film's pretty much nailed on for Best Original Screenplay, and from the trailer it looks nothing short of fabulous. Spike Jonze brings his own particular brand of melancholic whimsy to proceedings, with Joaquin Phoenix excelling as the introverted Twombly. Yet the real stand-out is Scarlett Johansson, voicing Samantha – she infuses every syllable with a sense of humanity that helps to suggest why Twombly finds her so alluring. A real standout.
We also have our full cinema listings up on the website. If you don't like the idea of treating your darling Valentine to a film with Scarlett Johansson playing a computer, why not see what else is coming up?
