Butler's Cinema Scene

Joaquin Phoenix…isolated, but not for long

“HER” My rating: A- (Opens wide on Jan. 10)

120 minutes | MPAA rating: R

The sentient computer — the mechanical brain that becomes self aware — has been with us for many years now (perhaps most famously in the person of “2001’s” HAL 9000). But writer/director Spike Jonze’s “Her” pushes that idea in new and wonderful directions.

Along the way it becomes the best film of 2013.

In the near future — so near you can’t categorize the film as science fiction — a computer operating system is developed that so perfectly imitates human thought and emotion as to make the iPhone’s Siri seem like a grunting Neanderthal.

Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely romantic.  Lonely because he and his wife (Rooney Mara) are divorcing — though Tehodore cannot bring himself to sign the papers.  Romantic because his day job is writing heartfelt letters  to strangers.

He works for a company that, for a fee, will compose personal letters to family members, dearly beloveds, friends and acquaintances. Apparently in this near future most personal written correspondence is limited to texting abbreviatons and emoticons. Some folks will pay big bucks for a well-written, sincere and “handwritten” letter (actually, a computer provides the appropriate font and coughs it out of a laser printer).

Theodore is a master of this old-fashioned form of communication — which only makes his sterile personal life all the more ironic.

But relief is on the way.  Computer programmers have come up with a new operating system that acts as a friend (you can specify whether you want a boy friend or a girl friend).  This cyber individual will learn from you, grow through your interaction, and respond to you like a real person.

Theodor requests a lady friend and the result is Samantha (an unseen Scarlett Johannson), who becomes his companion 24/7.  Samantha views the world through an iPhone-type device that Theodor can clip on his shirt pocket so that she sees what he sees. An earplug provides constant communication. She talks in a breathy, husky tone that is sexy without being tacky. She’s there first thing when Theodore wakes up and is present until he shuts her down at night — not that Samantha actually  sleeps…more on that later.

She is, in short, the perfect companion for a solitary guy, and we really shouldn’t be surprised when — as these two grow accustomed to each others rhythms, emotions, and intellects — their bond shifts from that of master/servant or owner/machine to one of lovers. (What…you’ve never heard of phone sex?). They are a couple. They go on vacation together — and only have to buy one seat.

Jonze, a master of off-kilter comedy (“Adaptation,” “Being John Malkovich”), keeps this enterprise steadly balanced between sly humor and genuine sweetness.  There’s absurdity in the idea of a human falling for a machine, yet Phoenix is so good at establishing Theodore’s isolation and his joy at having a “woman” in his life that it lifts “Her” into the realm of the bittersweet, even the tragic.

But there’s a serpent even  in this little paradise. Theodore is limited by his human limitations (weariness, sleep, narrow focus) while the ever-alert and curious Samantha can be processing information around the clock. She outgrows her human master’s ability to provide intellectual stimulation.

Question: If, while she’s talking to Theodore, Samantha is simultaneously holding thousands of converations with other humans and operating systems — is that technically cheating?

I know of no other actor so good at portraying alone-ness as Phoenix. Even when surrounded by others, his characters occupy a quiet place off to the side of things. Watching his Theodore open up to the possibilities of love is both deeply satisfying and terrifying.

Johansson has an even more daunting task: Create a fully rounded character from infancy to maturity using only her voice. Do they give Oscars for voice performances?  They should.

Look for strong supporting work from Chris Pratt as Theodore’s awed boss, and  Amy Adams as the woman in the next apartment, who’s going through personal upheavals of her own. (Is there some kind of SAG rule that Amy Adams has to be in every movie?)

Jonze’s fluid vision keeps “Her” from feeling claustrophobic, and the production design is both familiar and just futuristic enough to offer some visual panache. Many of the exterior scenes were shot in new cities in China, where soaring modernistic architecture must compete with yellowish smog (seems like a reasonable version of our urban future). Private cars appear to have gone the way of the dinosaur; everyone rides trains.

The costuming seems unremarkable until you start looking closely — when did men start wearing high-wasted trousers without belts? And what’s with the color orange? Jonze seems to have a jones for that particular hue.

 Robert W. Butler