Her (Oscar List 9/9)
Her
What can I say without being biased? I simply adore Her.
Story
Her is a film about Theodore, a melancholy man who is in the middle of finalizing his divorce from the former love of his life. In the midst of his funk, Theodore purchases a new operating system that names itself Samantha (think of a hyper intelligent Siri). Theodore communicates with his computer through an earpiece, and ultimately develops a dating relationship with Samantha.
Acting / Voice Acting
Let me paint you a picture of the acting in this film.
Joaquin Phoenix (Theodore) acted out the film, mostly by himself (as his co-star was a voice actress). He received voice cues from the voice of Samantha, (Samantha Morton), but of course because she was off camera (and possibly not on set for shooting, though I don’t know that), Joaquin had to portray his vast facial expressions and vocal inflections for a person and conversation that did not exist. After filming—in the postproduction stage—director Spike Jonze realized he had made a mistake.
“And then when we got into editing, we realized that what Samantha and I had done together wasn’t working for what the character needed, and so we ended up having to recast at that point in time.“
The recast for Samantha ended up being Scarlett Johansson—the voice we hear in the film. This is amazing on two levels. Firstly, Scarlett did an absolutely amazing job of portraying real human emotion—convincing us that she was a person—only through her voice. We see her development as she begins as a computer, who doesn’t know as Jonze put it, “fears or doubts or insecurities or baggage”. We see the development as (much like a child growing up) she learns emotions and mannerisms. Secondly, because the film had already been shot, Scarlett had to voice act the film with someone else’s cues, timing, spacing and phrasing. I cannot even begin to imagine how much of a challenge that would have been. Honestly, I feel that Scarlett was robbed of an Oscar nomination for Best supporting actress.
Sight
This was the first Spike Jonze film I have ever seen, and oh my goodness it is beautiful! A conversation between two “people” (Theodore and Samantha) could have been incredibly boring as only one person is physically present, but somehow Spike captures the moment. Whether he used tight closeups of Theodore’s face, or the dust floating in the air over the background of a throw blanket, Spike and Hoyte Van Hoytema (Director of photography) captured a world of beauty in spite of the mundane.
Colour Theme
Once you see Her, you will notice the large role colour theme plays in it. Today we are going to focus on Theodore’s choice of shirts, as it changes with his mood throughout (I take no credit for actually cataloging what each colour represents).
- Red/Orange/Pink. These colours are the main shirts Theodore wears, and they represent love and acceptance.
- Blue The blue shirts typically show Theodore in a state of sadness or discomfort.
- Yellow. While it is rare throughout the movie, whenever Theodore wears yellow, it is when he is deeply questioning something with uncertainty or confusion.
- White White as you would assume, is simply a neutral state with no major emotion attached to it.
To take this all one step further, sometimes Theodore will wears two colours, such as blue and red, to show that he is accepting, yet sad about a situation.
— A loving and accepting Theodore wearing his red/orange shirt
—Theodore is sad wearing his blue shirt.
— SPOILER — Theodore questions if it is possible to love a machine while he is on a blind date wearing his yellow shirt (date w/ Olivia Wilde)
Theodore is happy to be getting a divorce, but sad to see it go (Red/blue shirt)
Sound
The OST is by Canadian rock band Arcade Fire…. That means it’s good.
Why Her should win the Oscar…
1) Originality
What is original? When you play a chord sequence on guitar, has it ever been played before? Is any thought original, or has everything been thought and done before (there is nothing new under the sun)? Most movies it seems recycle a story to some degree. You could also make that argument for Her. You could say that it is basically Blade Runner but in day time. Or that it is Brave New World mixed in with 1984. The bottom line is that this film is different enough, to break free from most mainstream films today.
2) Emotion
Her is the one movie of the 9 nominees that I had an emotional connection with. The other are good stories, and they create worthy conversations, however this film moved me, it made me think, and it comforted me. It has that indefinable quality, that “other” thing. Perhaps we feel that we can relate in someway, because the concept of the film is the not-to-distant-future. It is not set in the year 4899. We already have Siri today, and many people are basically married (to borrow the term) to their various technologies. We can imagine this movie panning out in our generation’s time, and this thought is the kernel of realism that we all needed and wanted in this love story.
Her is a love story similar to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It will make you question humans ability to forgive and move on once love is broken.
Her is beautiful in everyway, and it will come back to mind days after viewing it. I do hope it wins the Oscar.
“Her is a remarkably ingenious film but, more important, it is a film that transcends its own ingenuity to achieve something akin to wisdom.” Christopher Orr – The Atlantic
