HER SPIKE JONZE NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW MOVIE

They move quickly toward phone, or cyber, sex - whatever this is - and it’s looking good until she says, “Choke me with that dead cat. In a chat room, he aurally scrolls through options before settling on a woman with a sweet voice who can’t fall asleep. Lying awake in bed in an early scene, he sticks in an earbud, remotely connected to his smartphone-like device, and operable by voice. We meet Theodore when he’s despondent and detached, following the dissolution of his marriage to Catherine (Rooney Mara). The clothes are all soft tweeds and cottons out of those pockets peek shiny devices. Buildings’ glossy exteriors (the skylines were shot in Shanghai) contain interiors that blossom with color. The fashion and décor blend new and retro, tech and nature, sleek and sumptuous. The aesthetic of the film, set in Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future, encourages us to think in terms of nuance and gradients - of the what-has-been gradually giving way to the what-will-be.

HER SPIKE JONZE NEW YORK TIMES REVIEW MOVIE

Spike Jonze’s new movie Her follows everyman Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) as he charts the course of just such a fraught developmental journey. The door to feeling opens indiscriminately. But where there’s joy, there’s the possibility of pain. It means closing doors, taking responsibility for your own desires and needs, and becoming vulnerable to potential loss.

It means coming to terms with whom you want and whom you don’t. Getting involved with love means coming to terms with who you are and who you aren’t. But the prospect of real love is the scariest of all. THE PROSPECT of an unfulfilling relationship is scary.

Her spike jonze new york times review