Her
Merry belated Christmas! Christmas Day itself had relatively little fanfare, but I did get to briefly catch up briefly with some old friends. That was nice. Bonus: randomly ran into JKuo while at Cupertino Village to find someone else, haha.
But I mostly came here to write about Her, which I watched last night. It's definitely different and interesting. (I know, super descriptive, right?) Unfortunately I can't really come up with a better word to describe it. It did have me thinking about it for quite a few hours after.
Before I forget, I should definitely mention Joaquin Phoenix's excellent acting performance. He'll likely get an Oscar nom for it. Johansson wasn't bad, either, and for her sake probably it's good that I forgot who was voice-acting for the computer. I admit: I have sort of a bias against ScarJo. Amy Adams didn't really leave much impression on me, but she was entirely adequate.
So far as the internet can tell, the consensus takeaway is that people need to "man up" and be willing to handle other people's issues/emotions/etc., or we wind up in a world where everybody prefers interacting primarily with their OS. But it really didn't strike me that way. To me it's more a story that life is most fulfilling when you're to willing to be free and adaptive.
A major premise, I think, of the "consensus" conclusion is that Theo (the protagonist) dates Samantha (the OS) because he thinks she's "lower-maintenance." I suppose the statement is partially true; early on he mentions (in passing) that he dislikes how his mother doesn't really listen to him - instead tending to talk about herself whenever she checks in on him - and Samantha certainly does listen without that competing interest. But if you look at some of the things Theo likes about Samantha (like that she has a sense of humor, despite being an OS; or how excited she is to learn about human life from him), the "low-maintenance" aspect doesn't really seem central to me. Moreover, "humanistic" hiccups with Samantha pop up early enough in the movie, so it's not exactly like he stayed in a low maintenance haven the whole time. And he stayed with her all the same. Also, Theo's job as a letter writer for others strikes me as demonstrating how "real people can be entirely phony, too."
Freedom/adaptivity/evolution are also themes throughout. This is most obviously embodied by Samantha, and by her statement near the end that "I still love you, but this is who I am now." A different scene comes to mind, though, where Amy shows a clip from her documentary, and it's just footage of her mom sleeping. Entirely boring, when no narrative is given. But she explains that it represents how we're most free when we're asleep and in our dreams. There's also a scene a bit before that, where Amy briefly comments (in the elevator) on how hard it is to always balance what we love with what we "need to do."
What I keep coming back to, in my head, are Theo's early comments about how he loves how excited Samantha is about life and learning about people. And adaptivity (as an artificially intelligent OS, after all) is a key part of why she's able to do that.
Dating the OS might be Theo's own evolution, which makes him feel super alive. Prior to that, he mentions (during his first "bed" scene with Samantha?) that sometimes he worries he's already felt the full spectrum of things, and that the rest of his life would only bring diminished re-enactments of those feelings. (Interacting with real people led him to that point! The machine led him out of it!) So this again is why it strikes me as a story about freedom/evolution above anything else.
But I mostly came here to write about Her, which I watched last night. It's definitely different and interesting. (I know, super descriptive, right?) Unfortunately I can't really come up with a better word to describe it. It did have me thinking about it for quite a few hours after.
Before I forget, I should definitely mention Joaquin Phoenix's excellent acting performance. He'll likely get an Oscar nom for it. Johansson wasn't bad, either, and for her sake probably it's good that I forgot who was voice-acting for the computer. I admit: I have sort of a bias against ScarJo. Amy Adams didn't really leave much impression on me, but she was entirely adequate.
So far as the internet can tell, the consensus takeaway is that people need to "man up" and be willing to handle other people's issues/emotions/etc., or we wind up in a world where everybody prefers interacting primarily with their OS. But it really didn't strike me that way. To me it's more a story that life is most fulfilling when you're to willing to be free and adaptive.
A major premise, I think, of the "consensus" conclusion is that Theo (the protagonist) dates Samantha (the OS) because he thinks she's "lower-maintenance." I suppose the statement is partially true; early on he mentions (in passing) that he dislikes how his mother doesn't really listen to him - instead tending to talk about herself whenever she checks in on him - and Samantha certainly does listen without that competing interest. But if you look at some of the things Theo likes about Samantha (like that she has a sense of humor, despite being an OS; or how excited she is to learn about human life from him), the "low-maintenance" aspect doesn't really seem central to me. Moreover, "humanistic" hiccups with Samantha pop up early enough in the movie, so it's not exactly like he stayed in a low maintenance haven the whole time. And he stayed with her all the same. Also, Theo's job as a letter writer for others strikes me as demonstrating how "real people can be entirely phony, too."
Freedom/adaptivity/evolution are also themes throughout. This is most obviously embodied by Samantha, and by her statement near the end that "I still love you, but this is who I am now." A different scene comes to mind, though, where Amy shows a clip from her documentary, and it's just footage of her mom sleeping. Entirely boring, when no narrative is given. But she explains that it represents how we're most free when we're asleep and in our dreams. There's also a scene a bit before that, where Amy briefly comments (in the elevator) on how hard it is to always balance what we love with what we "need to do."
What I keep coming back to, in my head, are Theo's early comments about how he loves how excited Samantha is about life and learning about people. And adaptivity (as an artificially intelligent OS, after all) is a key part of why she's able to do that.
Dating the OS might be Theo's own evolution, which makes him feel super alive. Prior to that, he mentions (during his first "bed" scene with Samantha?) that sometimes he worries he's already felt the full spectrum of things, and that the rest of his life would only bring diminished re-enactments of those feelings. (Interacting with real people led him to that point! The machine led him out of it!) So this again is why it strikes me as a story about freedom/evolution above anything else.