15 February 2014

Her, 2013 - ★★★★★


Her is a film that is so full of great ideas it's a surprise that it doesn't start to come apart at the seams. Touching on so many things that have a personal resonance, disappointment seemed inevitable but thankfully never arrived. A fantasy rooted in reality. An absurd comedy where the laughter comes from simple human interactions rather than the high concepts. A love story, just a love story - like any other love story but different from every love story. Wonderful visuals, a beautiful soundtrack, quiet understated and believable performances from all of the cast.


I had hoped that the film would build to an outstanding ending which it doesn't quite manage. Towards the end, the logic of the film's world may not stand up to too much scrutiny and things become a little predictable but this just allows the the climax to be quietly satisfying rather than mind blowing which on reflection may be the right choice.


At the screening I attended there were sporadic rounds of applause during the credits but also one person loudly claiming "what a stinker", I can only assume his internal operating system needs an upgrade. Every moment in the film can launch so many discussions on love, technology, humanity, communication, ethics, romance, privacy, relationships and probably numerous other topics and it's those reasons that I'll be thinking about Her for a long time to come.


February 15, 2014 at 02:31PM

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