I honesty thought there was no way this movie could be good because the idea of a man falling in love with a computer program is just absolutely ludicrous. But like any good movie the execution of the idea is everything. This movie nails the execution perfectly, to create a beautiful movie that truly caught me off guard and is one of the best movies I saw, made from last year. This is Spike Jonze best directed film and best film he's made. This film also proves what a great actor Joaquin Phoenix has become over the years as he embodies a man detached from committing to emotion and people in general. Phoenix has become a sort of chameleon for odd sort of people and always seems to throw himself into those roles with such an abandonment (see The Master for a great example of this). I'm not much of Scarlett Johansson fan but I've got to admit this is some of her best acting considering she has no physical body in this movie and has to do all of her acting with her voice, and she nails it perfectly. I mean she creates a whole person with nothing but her voice and she makes that non-body completely complex, alive, and bubbling with a life where the people in this movie have detached from it. By doing that she connects this movie ever so slightly with the perfect 2001: A Space Odyssey and the computer HAL. In that movie, and in this movie, it was the computer that displayed more emotion and life thane people in the movie, the connection has to be mentioned.
This movie is infinitely complex from the over simplified premise. It's full of irony as it tackles questions of technology detaching people from each other, society, emotions, and communication, while we watch this movie on any kind of technology. I couldn't help but notice this irony as I watched it and really did wonder about it while I watched the movie. The movie isn't pretentious or preachy but relies on Phoenix and Johansson's character to weave us through this world. Both of them are up to the challenge as they create wholly believable characters.
This movie also tackles questions of connection and emotion as these relate to how we accept technology into out lives. Make no mistake this is a sci-fi movie but an ever so slightly sci-fi movie as the technology in this movie is similar to the kind in our world but just a little more advanced. It's this technology being just a little bit more advanced as us but yet familiar that really helps the viewer to connect with the themes on display because we can see them happening right now in our lives. The technology's look in this movie reminded me so much of what we have now and the advancement in the movie seemed like it was only a few years away that it made access to this movie so easy. Thus the themes discussed in this movie became more apparent and clear because of the familiarity of the technology. I haven't seen too many sci-fi movies like this that it really blew me away. Jonze didn't have to preach anything or over narrate anything he let his visuals speak for themselves but unlike a Terrence Mallick, Jonze has a story and characters who flow with the visuals of the movie.
This movie also has a faithful ending to the story being told, not some sappy, syrupy, ending but an honest to goodness real ending from the story being told. It handles questions of AI (artificial intelligence) with some real thought much like 2001 did and not like most movies do, for that I'm really glad as it made the movie a total delight to watch. I am looking forward to seeing this movie again to see if I will have the same kind of connection with it that I did the first time because most of Jonze's movie don't seem to have rewatchablity to them but I think this one might have more than his previous films.
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