This is a movie about intimacy. I cannot think of too many movies wherein that is the theme. Because of that, I found this movie to be both brilliant and uncomfortable. When a movie is depicting the most raw of human emotions, I think that movie wants the viewer to be uncomfortable. This movie plumbs the depth of human emotion, and finds all of the messiness and hope that is to be found in opening oneself up to other people.
The movies of Spike Jonze have a tendency toward the unusual. This is only the fourth movie he has directed, and all four movies are striking in their originality. For instance, his first film follows a puppeteer who stumbles into a portal which takes the entrant into the mind of actor John Malkovich. With that film as his debut, a viewer knows that any Spike Jonze movie is going to have its own perspective. The movie here begins with a bizarre (but perhaps too close to reality) premise, but plays out the premise so skillfully that I found myself feeling that I was almost watching real life. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theo, a man whose marriage is just coming to an end. He works for a company which composes authentic, emotional notes for people. Theo is hired by people who want to send a special thought to someone they love, he composes the note for them (in their handwriting, using modern computer technology to reproduce a genuine handwritten note). Theo spends his days in other peoples' thoughts. Their thoughts are deeply personal and heart wrenching, but it is just every day business for him. Theo makes the rounds on social networks. Since this movie is set somewhere in the future, the technology of social networks has advanced significantly, and Theo is able to hook up with people in ways that are still a ways a way for us today. However, when a social network sexual encounter goes awry, Theo looks for another alternative.
Theo ends up buying an OS with artificial intelligence. He begins to develop a relationship with the OS (whose name is Samantha, and is voiced by Scarlett Johansson), and he is surprised at how well Samantha relates to him, and how responsive she is to his feelings. The only other significant relationship Theo seems to have is with his friends Amy and Charles (Amy Adams and Charles Letscher), and when their marriage falls apart, Amy also begins a relationship with an OS. Amy and Theo have different relationships with their OS friends. While Amy sees the OS as almost a girlfriend with whom she can gossip and joke, Theo begins to have what he sees as a deep and intimate relationship with Samantha. This is seen in many different ways which I will not here relate, but the deep longing Theo has for intimacy is mirrored only by his complete inability to actually have such intimacy. This sets the stage for unpredictable developments which have a lot to say about what we yearn for as humans.
As the OS hits the market and more and more people begin to buy them, the movie depicts nearly everyone interacting with their OS as they walk down the street. Therefore, we see an entire city of people (the movie is set mainly in a future but very familiar downtown Los Angeles) talking to their hand held devices rather than to each other. As someone who owns an iphone, I know how captivating these little devices can be. This movie does a good job of making a point through taking the technology to an extreme. What would happen if each of us had a companion that not only was tailored to us, but who we could continue to tailor to our needs? Would we be happier? Is part of what makes relationships so captivating is the fact that other people are never in our control? This movie asks these questions are many others. But, I think what makes it so timely and powerful is how normal the lives depicted in the movie are. While the movie is set in the future and the technology is so exotic, the lives in the movie itself could not be more ordinary, and that is part of what is kind of terrifying about the movie. This is by no means one for the kids. It deals with intimacy and sexuality in a raw and uncomfortable way. Having said that, since relationships are the one thing which we never master as humans, how fascinating it is to see a movie which shows humans attempting to master that, and what happens in that case. It takes me back to Spike Jonze's last movie, "Where the Wild Things Are," wherein Max seeks to make a world where people don't hurt and things aren't broken. The harder he tries, the worse things get for Max. We cannot control others, and both of these movies show that heartbreaking but important truth very well.
Theo ends up buying an OS with artificial intelligence. He begins to develop a relationship with the OS (whose name is Samantha, and is voiced by Scarlett Johansson), and he is surprised at how well Samantha relates to him, and how responsive she is to his feelings. The only other significant relationship Theo seems to have is with his friends Amy and Charles (Amy Adams and Charles Letscher), and when their marriage falls apart, Amy also begins a relationship with an OS. Amy and Theo have different relationships with their OS friends. While Amy sees the OS as almost a girlfriend with whom she can gossip and joke, Theo begins to have what he sees as a deep and intimate relationship with Samantha. This is seen in many different ways which I will not here relate, but the deep longing Theo has for intimacy is mirrored only by his complete inability to actually have such intimacy. This sets the stage for unpredictable developments which have a lot to say about what we yearn for as humans.
As the OS hits the market and more and more people begin to buy them, the movie depicts nearly everyone interacting with their OS as they walk down the street. Therefore, we see an entire city of people (the movie is set mainly in a future but very familiar downtown Los Angeles) talking to their hand held devices rather than to each other. As someone who owns an iphone, I know how captivating these little devices can be. This movie does a good job of making a point through taking the technology to an extreme. What would happen if each of us had a companion that not only was tailored to us, but who we could continue to tailor to our needs? Would we be happier? Is part of what makes relationships so captivating is the fact that other people are never in our control? This movie asks these questions are many others. But, I think what makes it so timely and powerful is how normal the lives depicted in the movie are. While the movie is set in the future and the technology is so exotic, the lives in the movie itself could not be more ordinary, and that is part of what is kind of terrifying about the movie. This is by no means one for the kids. It deals with intimacy and sexuality in a raw and uncomfortable way. Having said that, since relationships are the one thing which we never master as humans, how fascinating it is to see a movie which shows humans attempting to master that, and what happens in that case. It takes me back to Spike Jonze's last movie, "Where the Wild Things Are," wherein Max seeks to make a world where people don't hurt and things aren't broken. The harder he tries, the worse things get for Max. We cannot control others, and both of these movies show that heartbreaking but important truth very well.
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