Riding high on the recent announcement of three Golden Globe nominations, Spike Jonze’s Her is now playing in select US cinemas, with Warner Bros. giving it an Oscar-qualifying run ahead of its wide release next month.
Joaquin Phoenix leads the comedy-romantic drama, with Scarlett Johansson lending her voice as the advanced operating system, Samantha. Johansson has already won Best Actress for her performance at the Rome Film Festival earlier in the year, and whilst the Golden Globes ruled her ineligible in the category, there’s still very much a push for the Academy to rule in the opposite direction for the Oscars.
With the film now in its limited release stateside, the studio has launched a great new TV spot to set the mood.
Set in Los Angeles, slightly in the future, “her” follows Theodore Twombly, a complex, soulful man who makes his living writing touching, personal letters for other people. Heartbroken after the end of a long relationship, he becomes intrigued with a new, advanced operating system, which promises to be an intuitive entity in its own right, individual to each user. Upon initiating it, he is delighted to meet “Samantha,” a bright, female voice, who is insightful, sensitive and surprisingly funny. As her needs and desires grow, in tandem with his own, their friendship deepens into an eventual love for each other.
From the unique perspective of Oscar-nominated filmmaker Spike Jonze comes an original love story that explores the evolving nature—and the risks—of intimacy in the modern world.
Rooney Mara, Olivia Wilde, Amy Adams, and Chris Pratt lead the stellar ensemble alongside Phoenix and Johansson.
Jonze is directing from his own script, with Megan Ellison (Zero Dark Thirty, True Grit) producing alongside the writer-director’s past collaborator, Vincent Landay (Adaptation., Being John Malkovich).
Her is now playing in select US cinemas, ahead of its wide release on January 10th. Here in the UK, it arrives a little later on 14th February, with the studio clearly hoping it will make a perfect choice for Valentine’s Day.
[yframe url=’www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1JIQ1cy0cw’]
