Her

USA 2013

Dir: Spike Jonze

126 mins

Cast: Joaquin Phoenix, Scarlett Johansson, Lynn Adrianna

Rating: MA15+

Never accuse Spike Jonze of lacking ambition. His latest cinematic endeavor, Her, could be considered "meditative science fiction" or perhaps an iRomance. Regardless of how it's designated, Her uses a familiar idea to sci-fi fans - machine sentience - and spins it in a new and exciting direction. In addition to exploring how that might work in a near-future, real-world setting, Jonze looks at the ways in which people react to non-traditional relationships and how interpersonal interaction might change in an increasingly computer-dominated society.

... Jonze doesn't make conventional movies; he's a lot like Terry Gilliam in that way. Yet his films, which have included Being John Malkovich and Adaptation, almost always work because they take chances and don't underestimate the viewer's intelligence. Her is another such production. It's audacious but also genuine. It's emotionally true and demands much from its audience not in terms of suspension of disbelief but of empathy with the main character.

James Berardinelli, ReelViews

... This is all laid out with superb craft (the cinematography by Hoyte van Hoytema takes the understated tones he applied to 2011’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and adds a dreamy creamy quality to them, so that even the smog layering the Shanghai skyline that sometimes stands in for Los Angeles here has a vaguely enchanted quality) and imagination. ...

Glenn Kenny, RogerEbert.com