Coming Soon: Her (18/12/2013)

This cyber-romance from Spike Jonze  really is a love story for the modern age. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore, the lonely divorcé who falls for the soothing tones of his Siri-like seductress Samantha (Scarlett Johansson being edgy again). Inevitably, developing a relationship with a computer turns out to be a complicated business. Samantha has been perfectly designed to suit Theodore's every need but their interactions are frustratingly filtered through the cold barrier of the screen. There's a point to be made here about the voyeuristic complicity of the cinema audience: the viewers' attachment to the characters before them is bound to be put under the microscope as they watch Theodore struggle with the emotional limits (and depths) of technology.


Judging from the trailer below, euphoria gives way to desperation as the impossibilities of a tactile bond become clear. It appears that Jonze has teamed up with Karen O again, after their Grammy-nominated collaboration on Where the Wild Things Are. 'Skeletons,' with its wistful, anthemic rise is a beautiful choice for the trailer, although I can't help but think 'Despair' might have been even better. Promisingly, it looks like Jonze has couched his narrative in the sense of celebration tinged with sorrow that this song intimates. 'Her' could easily have turned into a sour judgement on the modern world's dependency on technological agents but it doesn't seem to be heading in quite that direction. Phoenix is a wonderfully versatile actor and with support from Amy Adams and Rooney Mara, he could bring this story the nuance and sympathy it needs. After all, the electronic voice is one to which we may all be in some way susceptible, particularly as it is so often prefixed by the ego implicit in the 'i.'

And here's 'Despair.' Just cause, you know, it's so good. And filmed on top of the Empire State Building!