Her

I opened bookmyshow.com and started looking for a convenient show timing. I had one show bang in the middle of the day at 1 pm and one at 11:05. The choice was obvious on a working day. I opened the page to choose my seats and lo! I had almost the entire hall available to me. Only two seats were taken. As much a cause of delight, this was a matter of concern. A thousand thoughts were running through my head as I chose 2 convenient seats. It has barely been a week since the movie released and it is obvious that it isn’t “running to packed houses”. But Her had a background of being a critic’s favorite. I knew I couldn’t expect the regular. I braced myself and went to the payment gateway of the site.

Spike Jonze directed Being John Malkovich. Now that I know this fact Her doesn’t seem like a surprise coming from him. John Malkovich in short grossed me up. The only good part of my movie experience is a rule I follow that I will research anything about the movie only after I watch it and not before. So I sat through and experienced Her.

Rarely comes a movie like Her. In 2.5 hours you see most things that are out of the ordinary. Not because this is some Lord of the rings dope. It’s more because the regular life portrayed in the movie is not a regular life happening around you or to anybody you know. Joaquin Phoenix plays Theodore Twombley, someone who is consumed by loneliness. His job is an ironic one. He writes letters for people who are too busy to write a letter and hence seek services of a website that does it for them. This is only the start to the paradoxes that keep presenting themselves in the movie. He stumbles upon a super intuitive operating system and his life begins to change. The OS sports the voice of Scarlet Johansen, the kind of voice you wouldn’t pick for the narration of a children’s tale. Not because she isn’t good but because her voice is husky and it seems just too…….real. I was really expecting a female Sheldon Cooper kind of voice for the OS. But the OS talks just like another person, a bit too much like another person. For Theodore this is a breath of fresh air. He finally has someone to share his life and offload himself whenever required. Amy Adams is also featured in the movie. She is like a female Theodore, going through almost a similar life and she has a very similar experience with the new OS too. Soon the movie hits the two major points in any relationship. Point A when the guy’s interest starts weaning because he realizes that he is in love with an OS and not a person. And point B when the woman, who in this case is the OS, realizes that her potential is not limited to being a human but being 8000 simultaneous human beings. Then the movie culminates to a point where the OS doesnt exist anymore and there is a profound understanding of what love is.

The movie brings in a lot of subtleties and sensibilities. Our normal everyday eyes will not be able to see this movie and do any justice. You have to come out of your skin and be a Theodore. You have to stop living and be an OS to understand Samantha. Then you get closer to the movie. Joaquin Phoenix is amazing in such a complex character. Spike Jonze has created something surreal. It probably explains Einstein’s lines that “logic will take you from A to B but imagination will take you everywhere.” Love has no form and is boundary less. But love is essentially love in its core. That doesn’t change by who is feeling it. It is beautiful!