Road to the Oscars - Her

Some of the best science fiction stories are stories that expose the best and the worst of humanity through fantastic and futuristic lenses. In Spike Jonze’s latest film, Her, human relationships are the centerpiece. Remarkably, this film works really well, and is more revealing about ourselves than many films about love this year.

The world of Her is not unlike our own, and one that is all too plausible. It’s a near-future place where people are ever more reliant on technology. People are focused on their tablets and smartphones and headsets, relying on technology for many things in their daily lives.

Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is one of these people. He plays virtual games alone and talks to his computer about everything (even the weather). And yet he's not really that social a guy: he has a few friends, he's breaking up with his childhood sweetheart (Rooney Mara) and he awkwardly goes on a few dates and virtual meetups with people. Ironically, his job is to write letters as a proxy for couples in love.

This disconnect becomes a theme in the film where we see people losing connections with each other. Rather than using technology as a means to meet each other, people get together with the technology itself. Twombly encounters an interactive operating system with artificial intelligence (voiced by Scarlett Johannson) and falls in love with her. Later in the film we see that this is not a strange thing by the standards of this world: Twombly's friends, for the most part, accept this burgeoning relationship as completely normal. It's taken to extremes later on when an actual person acts as a proxy between man and program.

If it feels a bit unsettling, it's meant to be made that way. We're all social animals, but we're all left groping in the dark for answers. Relationships with others are a rocky path from start to finish; there is no guide to eternal happiness lying around in some book or program somewhere.

Her tells its story in warm fuzzy colors in pastel and brown, and a soundtrack by indie band Arcade Fire. The acting from all corners is superb and nuanced. Although there are some weird turns in the script (a date with Olivia Wilde comes to mind) overall the story is solid.

Her isn't just one of the best sci fi movies of the year, it's also one of the best movies of the year, period. But in the shadow of other movies competing for awards this year, it may end up lost in the crowd. Give it a go, it's a movie worth watching.