Her

Disappointed. I can't even begin to describe the depths of such a let down like this but I figured I may as well try, who knows, it could be therapeutic in some way.

Getting the obvious out of the way, Being John Malkovich is one of the greatest films ever made, because it's so deliciously insane but so effortlessly done it is essentially cinematic perfection. Spike Jonze, without the pen of Charlie Kaufman (who is my favourite in the world.) guiding you things just don't seem to work as well. Where the Wild Things are was a beautiful film but it wasn't perfect, it took a simplistic children's tale and added layers to it (some would say were unnecessary) but I'm more than willing to let it off for being ambitious and wider in it's scope, I think it worked adequately, it just wasn't mind-blowing.

Turning the tables Her is the opposite of Jonze's last endeavour, this time around it's a complicated idea with a much wider scope, it doesn't have the same structure, the same train tracks guiding things along, like an excellent screenplay or a book. The idea was borne from Jonze interest in creating a love story around the ever growing and present Artificial Intelligence, in short, 'Let's fall in love with Siri.' It's a simple idea but it ruminates on the realities of relationships and the feelings of love and inevitable decline. I think they were shooting for bittersweet but somewhat missed the mark.

The essential thing that anchors a love story is the two people involved, learning about them, getting an idea of what makes them tick, why they belong together, what makes them good, their weaknesses, how this could come between them, how they would overcome this; you know really exploring what makes a relationship between two people work, so you know we can invest in them and believe in them.

Her feels like a failure for completely failing on every level to make me sympathise with the main character. Olivia Wilde pops up for five minutes and declares he's really creepy, from that moment onwards I couldn't get that out of my head, he actually is genuinely creepy. I would say I try my hardest not to judge people, and I was willing to let this whole 'falling in love with my computer' thing not completely throw me off, if they could convince me it could work then I would be impressed! But they just didn't.

The thing that drives me insane about hearing about love is how selfish people are when it comes to finding that special person they wish to spend their life with. 'I want this, I want that, my perfect person has to be this that... They are great but they just aren't perfect. The spark isn't there!' Why do people do this to each other? Whittle each other down, demanding those fireworks, demanding each other be the ideal version of who they want them to be. If love at first sight is falling in love with the way someone looks alone, do you see what you want in someone and then spend the time you have with them trying to manifest that image of them you first saw? Are you simply trying to make something out of someone that doesn't exist? Most importantly, why... why... are people so adamant that no one is good enough for them. Everyone has their fears, their faults, they anxieties, issues, baggage so to speak, and yet if you're with someone don't you have to share all that including the great stuff? I know, I know it's easier said than done but still, it's part and parcel of life.

This brings me to Joaquin Phoenix's character once again. A guy who manufactures other people's feelings because people just get to the point in the future where they don't even bother trying to express themselves any more and get some sad sack in chinos with a moustache to do it for them. The irony of course is that this guy, with all his eloquent expression can't even fathom how he feels. The guy is just a mess, and coincidentally there are alarmingly few redeeming qualities that I can parse out of his character. Why does he fall in love with his computer? Because she's free of human weakness, no issues, no past, no problems, just a funny, warm, witty, and interesting sexily voiced lady (Scarlett Johansson essentially knocking it out of the park) and this damp squib of a human being manages to drag her into the mire with his human weakness. Silly humans, they are given something pure and they mess it up with their personalities.

The film brims with Jonze's typical visual flair, it's set in a world where everyone dresses out of the Uniqlo catalogue and walk around in world dipped in a bright cream/beige hue. The music is particularly low key and it's got Arcade Fire and Karen O; it's so pretty and laid back and by far the coolest soundtrack I've heard in a while. Special shout out for Owen Pallet nominated for an Oscar for his Original Score who presided over the music in the film, I have his Final Fantasy albums on my computer (I accidentally downloaded an album called He Poos Clouds one day, it was pretty good and my musical education began) and to be honest, I think the soundtrack is lovely. But a good soundtrack, a good does not make. All style and no substance is an error in my eyes.

It's a shame too because Her tries it's best to grapple with the future of how we interact with each other, how we perceive love and how it could grow. It asks big questions and explores a world that we should be really intrigued in. It just doesn't have the skill to pull all these big ideas in any particularly convincing way. What should feel authentic and real, instead feels manufactured and limp, and it's a shame because I've never wanted something to work more.

What is this film trying to do? Well, I think it's trying to answer a simple question. What is love? It's having someone there to catch you when you fall, and that's hard if they don't have arms.