her...

 It was a movie filled weekend here in The Kingdom.

And strangely Amy Adams seemed to keep popping up in most of them! 

It was a quietly charming Amy that appeared in a film I have been looking forward to for the longest time - Spike Jonze's Her.

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Set in the Los Angeles of the slight future, the film follows Theodore Twombly, played wonderfully by Joaquin Phoenix, a lonely man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people.

Heartbroken after the end of his marriage, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive entity in its own right, individual to each user. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet "Samantha," a bright, female voice, who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny.

 I don't want to give too much away or spoil anything for you, other than to say that the the film basically follows their growing and developing relationship.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne6p6MfLBxc] 

 This is a touching film,imaginative and insightful, funny and sad at the same time. Phoenix is soulful, never over-the-top or melodramatic, and his interactions with an off-screen character feel as genuine and emotive (if not more so) as a scene with an actual actress. 

The biggest surprise in the film, however, is the effectiveness of Scarlett Johansson as Samantha (and  I can't say that normally I am a big Johansson fan!)

In providing her vocals for this role, she quickly and thoroughly charms the ear through her interactions with Phoenix, while also maintaining subtle inflections that reflect the reality that while engaging, she is still playing a machine.

 One of the movie’s themes is the simultaneous comfort, stimulation and artificiality of less-than-human connections ,with phones,tablets, video games and with operating systems of all kinds, which in many ways, makes this a perfect film for our times as we become ever increasingly insular and reliant on technology.

 But it's not so much a science fiction film, as a retrofuturistic story of love and friendship. 

In many ways, it reminds me of one of my favourite films of the last few years - Lars and the Real Girl, which can only be a good thing.

 And as for those high waisted trousers everyone wears in the film?

 That's a whole other post waiting to happen next week....

 Queen Marie

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