February, the month of love! You know the story, hearts and flowers everywhere...So, naturally, our February film is a love story! Boy meets girl, he falls head over heels for her blah blah blah. Only in this case the girl is not an actual girl, but an operating system called Samantha (not Alexa, sorry Amazon). Do I have your attention now?

If I tell you that our main character, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), purchases an artificially intelligent operating system and regularly interacts with it, you'll probably say, well yeah, no big deal! The thing is this film was released 12 years ago, so the storyline was pretty groundbreaking at the the time. 

Theodore is a lonely man in the final stages of his divorce. When he's not working as a letter writer, his down time is spent playing video games and occasionally hanging out with friends. He then decides to buy the new OS1, which is advertised as the world's first artificially intelligent operating system (what did I tell you?). Theodore quickly finds himself drawn in with Samantha, the voice behind his OS1 (Scarlet Johansson). As they start spending time together they grow closer and closer and eventually find themselves in love. Yes, you got that right, the OS was in love with a human!! As an OS, Samantha has powerful intelligence that she uses to help Theodore in ways others hadn't, but how does she help him deal with his inner conflict of being in love with an operating system?

If you think the story sounds creepy, honestly, I don't blame you. However, you should really give this film a chance, especially in the light of AI becoming an integral part of our lives. If you are somewhat skeptical about AI and operating systems, this film will only prove to you that humans can truly only have relationships with other humans, as nothing can ever substitute that, not even an incredibly intelligent OS.  

The cast is magnificent, we all know by now what Joaquin Phoenix can do, but truth be told, Scarlet Johansson should take every bit of credit, because how difficult must it be to keep an audience on their toes only using your voice! The cinematography and music are also brilliant, but for me the highlight of the film is the script. The expression "food for thought" has never been more appropriate. So, if you're looking for an alternative Valentine's day film, this is definitely it!