Inside Kimmy's Mind

So I should start of this review and mention how there might be spoilers, I mean they just might slip out as I share my opinion of this film. So this is me warning you, if you dislike spoilers…DO NOT read on. Here’s the trailer of Her, in case you missed it.

This film is set sometime in the future, not too far from our own. The protagonist, Theodore, played by Phoenix is a lonely man- not a hermit or an introvert that prefers staying locked away. He’s heartbroken due to his not exactly recent separation from his wife. So his introvert attitude is something he acquired after his separation. Which makes sense, you don’t necessarily want to be around other people when you’re feeling sad. People handle pain differently, and he pulled away from others. In one of the comedic/ awkward sex scenes, Theo enters a chat room where he is connected to a woman of his choice. They begin a sex phone session, after flirting a bit. I say it is awkward because of the moaning and groaning that happens. But a point that is brought up more than once is the fact that he wanted attention yet turned to a less physical form of it. Which is why I think he turns to his OS later on in the movie. Theodore works for a company called Beautifully Handwritten Letters. He is paid to write meaningful letters for any occasion. He deals with emotions every day yet passes them off as belonging to others. Not something I think everyone could accomplish. The technology in this movie doesn’t seem too far off from what we use. Computers, cell phones, ear pieces which everyone seems to own.  They connect to their “cell phones” along with a “Seri” type voice….that is until he upgrades to his own personal (Scarlett Johansson) OS. These are somehow personalized due to a set of questions you answer in the initializing phase. He chooses his to have a female voice, which of course he would, I mean he’s suffering from loneliness. So a female voice would be most comforting to him.

I felt as though when we are first introduced to his OS- Samantha, she’s very spunky and very well, humanized. She’s sarcastic, funny, she has a personality and feelings. And since she’s an artificial intelligence whether her feelings were real were I guess subjective. He ran across people who found his relationship with Samantha as odd maybe even gross, when they experienced “sex” the screen goes black and although it was awkward to hear moaning again, I listened to the rest of the audience and felt they were uncomfortable as well and laughed to hide this uncomfortableness. A dude sitting in the same row said, “Now that’s just sad.” I guess because he was having a sexual experience but it wasn’t a physical sex act. Meaning penetration. Phone sex, video sex, I mean people have sex in many different ways. And as long as it’s between consenting adults, then who are we to judge? I realize that opens many cans but for the sake of this review, let’s just pretend they don’t exist and focus on what the movie is about. I figured if she had a body, then they wouldn’t have thought it was sad. There are no robots in this movie, and they would probably exist already, but I don’t believe it would have the same meaning if they gave her body. After all just because he is lonely that doesn’t always mean lonely and needing sex. Theo needed companionship, he needed someone to care about him and ask him about his day at work. I mean, we are social beings, we spend life looking for another person to share our lives with.  I mean that’s part of living, no? Oh, and of course we are programed to reproduce and whatnot but let’s make it more than that desire. Samantha seems to focus a lot on the fact that she doesn’t have a body, she even gets to the point where she asks Theo to sleep with a woman who will pretend to be her body. Not a prostitute, but a woman who wants to be apart of their love. But Theo finds the whole act to be too weird for him and can’t go through with it. This causes a rift between the two of them, but he later gets past it.

The point of the movie in my opinion was how we want someone in our lives, and how that turns into a need. It doesn’t necessarily mean romantically. That could mean family or friends, just someone in our lives to care about us. Not having anyone is a shame, and it wasn’t as though Theo didn’t have those things. He had friends who were desperately trying to reach out to him, but in his sorrow he closed himself off. Sometimes we do just want to crawl under that rock instead of facing things around us.  I really enjoyed the movie, I don’t think I gave away too much. But I recommend seeing this film, but be prepared for some awkward moaning. 😛 Yes there are plenty of sad scenes, but there are plenty of comedic ones as well. I laughed a lot as well, and not just because it was uncomfortable at times. While looking up clips for this movie I came across a short film by Spike Jonze that I thought fitting to share. It’s called I’m Here. Enjoy.

So that’s my sort-of-kind-of-review. If you’ve seen this movie then please feel free to share your opinion. And if you haven’t then please share what you think of it just by viewing the trailer. Do you want to see Her or does it make you uncomfortable?  Let me know your thoughts. 🙂