Her

Another mind fuck from Spike Jonze and this time he's showing us the pitfalls and promises of what it would be like to have a relationship with a computer program.

Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) seems destined to a single life after his relationship to his rather lovely partner ends, and so he innocently gets an OS (Operating System) with a female personality and before long he is becoming infatuated with her - and her with him.

What follows is, to him, a real relationship. They have sex, talk, go out, have fun, argue et al and the only real revelation is that other people, perhaps lots of others, are doing the exact same thing.

Phoenix carries the film with vulnerable confidence and Scarlett Johansson's sultry, all-to-human voice and persona are an incredible match.

For a while I thought this film could only be a product of the early twenty-first century but then I realised that 'Electric Dreams' back in 1984 kind of did something similar. Ok, Miles loved Madeline and not his computer, but the computer loved Madeline and even wrote songs for her.

At times 'Her' takes itself far too seriously and the weight of meaning and importance begins to smother the rather simple narrative. I'm not sure if that is really a criticism or just an observation, but it's there nonetheless.

I'm also not really sure who to give most of my praise to. Every aspect of this film works perfectly, scarily perfect. How can us mere mortal filmmakers compete with a film like this??

My Siri is still a dumb-arse despite my efforts to corrupt her so the near-future as depicted in 'Her' is still some way off.

**** out of *****