her

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.

This film has been oddly touching to me. I will be the first to admit that the premise scared me shitless (Really now, a man falls in love with an operating system? That's just bypassing the line of the uncanny valley and heading straight into uncharted territory..) because of the fact that it's so real. Siri exists. Google Glass exists. Maybe I'm thinking, we shouldn't be playing God. Human interaction and communication should be limited to just that—human.

Theodore is afraid of being seen as strange when he realizes that he is falling in love with Samantha, and rightly so, because who falls in love with a computer? The fact that this is set in the future doesn't change much in humans, we are still flesh and blood. Joaquin's performance in this is simply quite stunning; his nuanced emotions are perfect for portraying his confusion, and his sadness for having lost the love of his life. Not to mention he was basically acting solo for the best parts of the film, and that is no easy feat. I really enjoyed Spike's vision of the future as well, there was not so much wham-bam, in your face TECHNOLOGY!!! screaming at you and objects flying around, but a future I could imagine five to ten years from now. It is realistic and that struck a chord within me.

As the film progressed, something began to resonate within me; this whole film started making sense. Isn't every human being looking for companionship in some form or other? This is the reason why some people choose to have pets, or indulge themselves in hobbies. The desire to interact with something, anything, is inherent in every one of us. And that is something worth remembering. Let's not forget this gem of a quote, 'I think anybody who falls in love is a freak. It's a crazy thing to do. It's kind of like a form of socially acceptable insanity.' And nobody should ever forget this, you love who you love.