I used to be so worried about not having a body

Continuing my trip down Empire’s top 100 films of the century so far…

No other films to write about because we're on another "two in a row" (my last one!) which takes us to Her, which I hadn't exactly avoided but I never find Joaquin Phoenix a particular draw, so I hadn't actually watched either.  But, for the most part, I enjoyed it - it does a good job of portraying possible events in a normal romantic relationship, but played out between a man and his virtual assistant (interestingly, the film came out a year before Alexa took over our lives).  Joaquin and Scarlett Johansson both do a good job in playing the two sides of the relationship in a very natural fashion which you don't question for a minute as they take their journey together - Scarlett does particularly well given it's purely a voice role.  It also has a cracking supporting cast - Chris Pratt, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara amongst others and the score (by Arcade Fire) also works very well.


As you'd expect from a Spike Jonze film, it looks fantastic - a very believable near-future, peppered with quirkily retro touches and some beautiful brief cut-away shots.  I was however, very disappointed to discover that the aeroplane statue was entirely CGI - it was a really cool statue!


I have, of course, got a few minor gripes.  The film doesn't feel like it needs to be 2 hours long - we could have lost one or two of the montages.  And I found the name "Theodore Twombly" really distracting - how often do you think he has to spell that out?  And not a gripe as such, but I also found the sex scenes incredibly awkward - thankfully no children were present (and I bet those of you that haven't seen the film are curious now!).


Wikipedia notes that whilst the film was being shot, the virtual assistant role was played by Samantha Morton and she was entirely replaced in post-production - it's interesting to consider whether that helped or hindered Scarlett's performance.  It's also interesting that the similarly storied Black Mirror episode came out in the same year, so they must have been produced in parallel - Charlie Brooker and Spike Jonze are both great minds that obviously think alike!  Overall, I enjoyed this film without truly loving it - I'm glad I watched it, but am unlikely to revisit it.




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