Her (2013)

5/5

Spike Jonze's Her is an expertly-crafted and beautifully-told love story. Although it is set in the future, it is a love story through and through. After a painful breakup with his girlfriend (Mara), Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) finds himself unexpectedly falling for his personal assistant, Samantha (Johansson). Their mutual attraction blossoms into a tender romance that some view with prejudice and others with acceptance. Despite the occasional false steps and fights, their relationship feels promising. But that is when the specter of doubt begins to rear its ugly head.

The movie's conceit is that Samantha is a piece of software, an operating system with an artificial intelligence that rivals and perhaps surpasses human intelligence. In fact, the film is advertised that way, banking on its strangeness to be the talk of the town. But it is so much more than a simple gimmick.

As far as storytelling goes, Her is a masterpiece. It is Annie Hall for the tech generation, and I do not say that lightly. It embodies the ups and downs of love, the sidesteps and detours of life, the frailty and imperfections of people. Her is somehow all those things delivered in a crisply-shot and sharply-written film. It is ferociously funny and manipulatively tender. It matches an unparalleled ebullience with a debilitating dread. It pulls at just the right heartstrings at just the right times.

From the subtle use of grain and POV to the story's fundamental architecture, Jonze directs masterfully. He elicits nuance out of the actors, whether it's the flicker of their facial muscles or the timbre of their voice, that elevates their performance well past our expectations. He uses flashbacks to tell the backstory so simply, so effortlessly, so precisely, that I cannot believe they are fictional at all. I cannot imagine that someone has not had those exact emotions before. They are silent reveries, uncontrollable daydreams, pure nostalgia.

The movie is not unassailable. For the life of me, I cannot fathom the thought process behind the movie's absurd fashion choices. I sincerely hope we don't dress like that at any point in the near or distant future. But even if this movie is eerily accurate about what we wear in the future, what's the point? It only serves to distract. It is the elephant in the room instead of the painting in the background. Is the movie supposed to be about love or is it supposed to be about navel-hugging belt-less tweed pants pulled up as high as possible around multiple layers of collared shirts?

Perhaps Her bites off a bit more than it can chew, but it is easily one of the best movies of the year. It has already taken hold of our culture, as evidenced by the innumerable parodies floating around online, and tickled something inside all of us. It is a magnificent film and a magical film. It is unique but universal. Watching Her is an experience everyone should get to enjoy.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1798709/

Where The Wild Things Are (2009)

3/5

Spike Jonze's Where The Wild Things Are is a technical marvel but an emotional disappointment. The plot follows a young, lonely Max (Records) who is unable to express all the feelings he experiences as he grows up. After an argument with his mother, he runs away into the woods and finds himself in the land of the Wild Things. For those who have never read the book (or seen the trailers), the Wild Things are 8 foot tall monsters with gigantic heads. They are without a doubt the stars of the show, with phenomenal costuming and superb computer graphics. They seem so real in every sense of the word; it is an incredible feat of filmmaking prowess.

But the rest of the movie makes very little sense. The lack of a plot makes the 90 minute runtime exhausting and boring instead of engaging and exciting. Most of the characters are relatively unlikable and possess very few redeeming qualities. And what were we supposed to take from the movie? What I did like was how the film was able to conjure up the point of view of a young child who doesn't always get what he wants and doesn't understand why. The sadness on his face when other kids destroy his igloo is genuine and palpable. The way he plays with his mother's stockings when she's working effuses the loneliness he feels. Emotionally, there is much potential but it is never fully explored or satisfactorily concluded. If you like Spike Jonze and don't much care for the content then you will like this movie much more than if you love the book and don't know who Spike Jonze is. Enjoy at your own risk.

IMDb link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0386117/