503: Her

[00:00:00] 210, Let's get to the second film that I'm going to be talking about dealing with artificial intelligence, which is her from 2013

[00:00:12] Directed by written and directed by Spike Jones, stars walking Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlet Johansson, the voice of

[00:00:21] Runeemara, Chris Prats in there, I love you wild and the Snaps is in the near future, a lonely

[00:00:30] writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need. So if you

[00:00:40] caught or if you've been in a listener for a long time when we did our best of the 2010s list or ranking,

[00:00:47] this was one of my maybe top five at least top 10. I've seen it maybe half a dozen times or more,

[00:00:57] and even when I first saw it when I was, those were on the time I was just getting serious about movies.

[00:01:04] I could not believe how great this one was. And I think it gets better every single time I watch it.

[00:01:13] It's one of the only movies that I've ever seen in my whole life that especially on rewatch.

[00:01:20] I actually find myself drifting off because I'm thinking so deeply about all the things that they're bringing up.

[00:01:28] Relationships about the future, just feelings, emotions and general friendship, whatever identity you name it,

[00:01:37] and I feel like it's there aren't really any others like it that cause me personally to have that sort of reaction,

[00:01:44] especially during the movie. Because the conversations mainly between

[00:01:52] Phoenix and Adams and then Phoenix and Johansson, which that's the primary part of the movie obviously,

[00:01:57] but they're so thoughtful, they're so intimate, they're so raw and deeply felt with performance.

[00:02:05] They're so introspective and reflective in the writing and just how it's so gently directed by Spike Jones.

[00:02:18] I can't really think of any flaws at all with the film aside for maybe it.

[00:02:22] Certain parts towards the end go on maybe a little too long or get slightly repetitive, but it's all momentary fleeting stuff.

[00:02:30] It's a near perfect film in my opinion is still one of my favorites of all time easily.

[00:02:38] Talking some specifics though for one, it has five of my favorite actors ever in this and this was also when walking Phoenix was bouncing back his Phoenix Assants.

[00:02:50] What if you want to call it this is one of the big ones that really brought him back and he also met Rumi Marra here, and they would go on to be married.

[00:02:59] And I think they have a kid now. The setup of this story, the concept is really subtle and restrained in terms of it being a dystopian future because everything looks fairly normal like there's very little that's actually that futuristic,

[00:03:19] which that works because you can't really tell, okay is this five years in the future is it 20 years whatever it's nothing insanely far I wouldn't think but it's just enough to be different a little mysterious and fresh.

[00:03:35] But it looks amazing the cinematography the costume design matched with that like the lighting and walking Phoenix is really colorful attire like the red shirts really just pop.

[00:03:47] And honestly help as cheesy as it sounds help to feed into the emotional weight and through line of everything.

[00:03:58] Walking Phoenix and in the atoms their friendship is very entertaining and very touching because they're both loners in their own way, they're both sort of lost kind of depressed.

[00:04:12] Phoenix can't really meet anyone the date he has with Olivia Wilde which is a very good scene it goes poorly but not at least to me not to the fault of him.

[00:04:24] It's more so she's had bad luck and she's I guess quick to turn people off or to reject them so she's not hurt again.

[00:04:34] And then Amy Adams is with this very odd guy who doesn't really get her art or her passion and is constantly trying to interject his ideas and overtake her rather than to listen to her and then that also ends.

[00:04:53] When Phoenix first gets the OS system and meets Samantha her voice like Scraught your hands and I mean I've always loved her but this is definitely one of her best of all time.

[00:05:05] When you need her you're instantly because it is just a voice I was instantly engaged.

[00:05:11] It's so bright, so fun and charming and could it wait to spend more time with her and hearing the questions that she would ask him.

[00:05:24] Even before she comes into the film and there's that automated voice asking Phoenix is character these generic questions like what's your relationship with your mother and he starts going on about how his mother basically sucks.

[00:05:42] One moment within that also that feels very human is when the voice asks do you want a female or male voice and then he takes a second to think.

[00:05:55] Because in that moment I felt yes he is heterosexual but you could see someone picking a male voice purely as maybe just having a friend rather than a romantic partner so he's like well I guess I'll go with a woman.

[00:06:13] Just their interactions and how that relationship and Scraught your hands and learning about life or trying to and becoming more and more self aware.

[00:06:25] The moment maybe third or so away into the film when she asks him what marriage was like because he was married to Runeemara and there's that inner cutting of the happy moments with Phoenix and Mara and then the sad moments and he's talking about situations where he's.

[00:06:44] Playing back arguments in his head that he had.

[00:06:49] Im mentioning the fact that both of you are growing together in your own way but then him.

[00:06:57] Having hesitation or possibly hers well of growing without the other person in whether it be professionally personally and that possibly causing resentment or.

[00:07:09] A difference in that relationship moving forward when he starts having fun with her and they go to the carnival or circus or whatever and she leads him on like it's a pretty goofy scene but.

[00:07:26] It's nice to see someone who you know is depressed and lonely just letting go and someone allowing him to do that.

[00:07:36] The movie is very funny as well throughout both in writing and performance.

[00:07:43] The gamer kid I don't know if it's meant to be like an AI or if it's actually someone on the other end I think it's AI but.

[00:07:50] The little doll player in the game that he's playing with his fingers.

[00:07:58] And that speaks so true to all the online gameplay where you can just put on a headset and start cussing people out and it could be a 12 year old kid on the other side and just trashing people for the fun of it.

[00:08:12] The scene with walking Phoenix and Rudy Mara when they're signing the divorce papers and them asking each other how they are and.

[00:08:22] Phoenix revealing I'm dating an OS and Rudy Mara being completely taken back as I feel like most people would so I don't really what's great is I don't really fault her for.

[00:08:34] Criticizing him or for questioning that because I feel like if I went through that and someone said I'm now dating an OS in this day and age I'll be like oh, like okay.

[00:08:45] And then so I definitely would not be totally kosher with that but him explaining to her the what it's like and because we know having watched him his emotions are as real as you can get whether it's a computer or human.

[00:09:03] And I know that the scene the sex scene let's call it when it fades to black and it's just Phoenix and Johansson's voice.

[00:09:13] Orgasming.

[00:09:15] I don't really mind that it was a little awkward sitting there in the theater with a bunch of people because I think some were completely like this is so weird and it is I don't think it's meant to be.

[00:09:24] Totally normal but.

[00:09:26] At least in how they were reacting and speaking to each other it felt fairly real.

[00:09:34] And I haven't really seen another romantic or sex scene in another movie done that way so it's unique.

[00:09:43] Walking Phoenix is job which is letter writing I think is so inventive because it's something that in this day and age we have people writing.

[00:09:53] And thank you cards and happy birthday cards that sort of thing but if you think about it later on in the future if it's not happening already people in a very.

[00:10:05] Authentic way as much as it could be could write thoughtful romantic letters to people or friendship letters that you give someone all of your you know some photos and information and then they can write something very thoughtful that you might not otherwise have the eloquence to do.

[00:10:22] However Phoenix realizes that it's other people's love that he's writing about not his own so that gets him down.

[00:10:31] Probably the weirdest scene in the movie which it's meant to be is the surrogate lover when they hire this girl to be Scarlet Johansson's body and they put.

[00:10:44] Scarlet Johansson's I guess the like another like bluetooth system in the girls here and then she wants walking Phoenix to have sex with this girl while Johansson is speaking.

[00:10:55] Definitely makes you feel uncomfortable it'll be so weird if that actually happened to you or at least having most people would not be cool with that at first.

[00:11:05] I love when he goes to.

[00:11:07] The cabin in the winter time or it's at least in the mountains where it's very snowy looks amazing and the score is great I didn't mention that yet.

[00:11:17] I love the piano tune the Scarlet Johansson or Samantha writes for him and the ukulele tunes.

[00:11:28] Amy Adams is job which is I believe is some sort of video game programmer one of the funniest things in the whole film is when she shows being next the video game that she's doing and it's this single mother.

[00:11:44] Single player I didn't know you would exactly describe it as but you see this mom trying to make breakfast for her kids getting in the carpool and like it's hysterical stuff.

[00:11:57] I'm not just talking around a lot of people who play games.

[00:12:00] I hear about like the craziest weirdest little one offs not that there's anything wrong with that at all but like I hear about just the most random concepts for games that people love and hey that's cool I think it's cool that you can make a game and some ways be so simple yet so.

[00:12:17] Addicting and enjoyable.

[00:12:20] What I love though in terms of the the AI let's bring it back to AI is it's not only very smart of course.

[00:12:28] But of all the movies that I'm going to be talking about this is the one that seems the closest to our near future because there are already plenty of online.

[00:12:40] I'm dating and sex simulators all these online chat rooms there's apps where you can make your own little AI girl friend or boyfriend like it just goes on and on and on with the easy ways for people to create their own version of.

[00:12:57] I love life jumping to the end.

[00:13:04] The big reveal of Samantha or Scarlett Johansson's let's call it cheating when walking Phoenix finds out that she's also the AI partner of I think thousands of other people whether it's men and women whoever.

[00:13:22] And the idea that really speaks to our current moment in time when going back to what I was saying about all the simulators and all the chat rooms and stuff whether it's for gaming for sex or whatever.

[00:13:37] You don't know who you're really speaking to a lot of the time sometimes it's just words on a screen you may not even see their faces.

[00:13:46] So that shock is not surprising at all, but I'm sure it's something with how people get catfish nowadays all the time or anything along that realm.

[00:14:01] But despite the writing being a little.

[00:14:05] Schmaltcy over the top the final conversation with Scarlett Johansson and walking Phoenix is very heartfelt and that ending teaser when walking Phoenix shows up at Amy Adams's apartment and she's sad and lonely too because her AI left.

[00:14:27] However at that point they get to spend time with each other as they should because they obviously have feelings and it does have that sweet ending.

[00:14:40] I do enjoy Chris Pratt a lot in this he has a smaller role, but I think this was right before he broke out with Guardians dress up world so he was still the more comedic Chris Pratt that I love.

[00:14:56] So I as I said it's a out-call a masterpiece.

[00:15:04] So heavy five out of five ten out of five.