Her is an unusual film. Unusual, yet successful, at least in my eyes, in the way the story was executed. My first impression after the movie was “most of the movie was close ups of Theodore’s face.” I thought about how few times he interacted with other humans throughout the film and how isolating that must be.

What really struck me about this film, though, was how convinced I was that Theodore and Samatha were in love. To execute a love story with essentially only one person is a tall task. I, however, fell right into the story and could feel their connection. I’ll credit much of this persuasion to Phoenix’s acting because his vulnerable character sold the computer-introvert guy interactions. It also helped that Scarlett Johansson’s voice is so human sounding, not like what we think of when someone says AI voice.

I wondered how they shot this film. Was Joaquin Phoenix actually delivering these lines alone or was Scarlett Johansson on set helping him act? I think the isolation that even Joaquin Phoenix had to act out on set adds to the film. At the end of the day, Samantha is a computer and Theodore is still alone.


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