Her (2013) - Jonze's disheartening hipster sci-fi romance

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Star Joaquin Phoenix's giant face with hipster mustache and a red shirt against a pink background makes up this simple poster for Spike Jonze's Her

In the near future, urbanite Theodore  works his way towards finalizing his divorce, while he falls in love with an OS (an artificial intelligence operative system) by the name Samantha.

 

Her is written, co-produced and directed by New-Yorker master filmmaker Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich (1999)), whose 4th feature it is.

Joaquin Phoenix (Signs (2002)) impresses again in a very intimate and sympathetic performance here; and Scarlett Johansson (Ghost in the Shell (2017)) is also outstanding in an unusually strong voice performance as Samantha. Chris Pratt (Passengers (2016)), Olivia Wilde (Life Itself (2018)) and Rooney Mara (Una (2016)) are fine, but it is especially Amy Adams (Lullaby (2014)) that one comes to care about here, although I enjoyed Phoenix and Adams as a couple more in Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master (2012).

Her relies on a distinctive and interesting story, which nevertheless has sides to it that bother me: Firstly it is, and continues to be, freaky to fall in love with a computer's voice, (even if Johansson does that voice.) The film shows friendship and romantic relationships incisively, - their weaknesses, frailties and misunderstandings especially, - which is implicitly why people in this really quite disheartening future turn away from each other. Jonze's version of the future is a well-dressed, smoothie-drinking, conflict-averse construction, - a hipster dream/nightmare, which seems incomplete to me: too slick and attractive. And the perspectives in previous Jonze films (his debut Being John Malkovich for one) simply reach farther.

 

Related posts:

 

Spike Jonze: The day after ... The Oscars 2014

Top 10: Best films about filmmaking 

2002 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life 

1999 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess 

Top 10: Best fantasy movies reviewed by Film Excess to date

Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph 

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 23 mil. $

Box office: 48.5 mil. $

= Flop (returned 2.10 times its cost)

[Her premiered 12 October (New York Film Festival) and runs 126 minutes. Jonze had had the first idea for the film in the early 2000s when first encountering an early AI voice system. He later based much of the script on his divorce from Sofia Coppola in 2003. Shooting took place in 'mid 2012' in Shanghai, China and in California, including in Los Angeles. Samantha Morton voiced Samantha but was replaced with Johansson in post production. The film opened #23 to a 260k $ first weekend in 6 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #10 and in 1,729 theaters, grossing 25.5 mil. $ (52.6 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 3 mil. $ (6.2 %) and Italy with 2.7 mil. $ (5.6 %). It was nominated for 5 Oscars, winning for Best Original Screenplay. It lost Best Picture to 12 Years a Slave, Production Design to The Great Gatsby, Song (The Moon Song by Karen O and Jonze) to Let It Go from Frozen by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez and Score (Will Butler, Owen Pallett) to Steven Price for Gravity. It also won an AFI award, 1/3 Golden Globe nominations, was nominated for a Grammy and won 2 National Board of Review awards, among many other honors. The film additionally made in excess of 4.9 mil. $ on home video copies in North America. Jonze has returned with 12 shorts, music videos, a documentary etc. but no feature since. Phoenix returned in Inherent Vice (2014); Adams in American Hustle (2013); and Johansson in Street of Dreams (2013, video) and HitRECord on TV (2014, TV-series) prior to her theatrical return in Chef (2014). Her is certified fresh at 94 % with a 8.50/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Her?

The Meddler (2015) - Stars elevate Scafaria's mother-daughter romcom

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The two central stars in front of a purple-pink background with palm tree contours makes up this poster for Lorene Scafaria's The Meddler

 

Marnie has, after she has also become a widow, moved to Los Angeles, where her adult daughter lives, but she meddles a bit much in her life.

The Meddler is written and directed by Lorene Scafaria (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012)). Scafaria's own personal relationship with her mother is the basis of this warm, bright film.

The drama may be in the lightweight category, but The Meddler is an enjoyable time that leaves you with a smile on your face, which is always welcomed.

Rose Byrne (Take Away (2003)) and a delightful Susan Sarandon (Little Women (1994)) elevate the film with depth and comedic knack, and the story gets sound backup from J.K. Simmons (3 Geezers! (2013)), Cecily Strong (Staten Island Summer (2015)) and Jerrod Carmichael (Ferdinand (2017)) as the Apple guy.

The Meddler is a soft present.

 Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 3.2 mil. $

Box office: 5.4 mil. $

= Big flop (returned 1.68 times its cost)

[The Meddler premiered 14 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 100 minutes. Shooting took place in New York and California, including Los Angeles. The film opened #35 to a 57k $ first weekend in 4 theaters in North America, where it peaked at #12 and in 464 theaters, grossing 4.2 mil. $ (77.8 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were Australia with 372k $ (6.9 %) and Spain with 354k $ (6.6 %). Scafaria returned with This Is Heaven (2018, TV movie) and theatrically with Hustlers (2019). Sarandon returned in Hell and Back (2015) with a voice performance and physically in The Other Side of the Lake the Purple Girl: Episode IV - The New Visitor (2015); Byrne in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016); Simmons in Ultimate Spider-Man (2012-15) and theatrically in Worlds Apart (2015). The Meddler is certified fresh at 85 % with a 7.03/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of The Meddler?

The Experiment (2010, video) - Flawed, tense, unpleasant, mysterious

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The mysterious poster for Paul Sheuring's The Experiment

A significant group of men are promised big checks if they participate in a prison experiment, which, however, within few days escalate without any of the scientists interfering.

The Experiment tells a scary story, inspired by the real Stanford prison experiment of 1971, which is well-acted and well-made with a few, important exceptions: We know as audiences that we are watching something based on a real event. But for a long time in the film, I wasn't sure if it was set in the 1970s or today, which is fatal for a film of this kind. The Experiment also loses quite a bit of its opportunity to surprise by showing violent animal and human footage during the opening credits. This lets us know exactly where we are heading right off the bat, - another pretty poor choice on the part of the filmmakers.
The Experiment is a remake of the successful German film Das Experiment (2001) by writer-director Paul Scheuring (36K (2000)). It is a rather unpleasant film.

Watch a clip from the film here, described as 'the infamous toilet scene'

Cost: 21.8-25 mil. $
Box office: Unknown
= Unknown (but certainly a mega-flop)
[The Experiment premiered July 15 (South Korea) and runs 96 minutes. It was shot in and around July 2009. Elijah Wood was originally cast but bowed out of the production after a few days. SPOILER The real Stanford prison experiment was quite different and less dramatic than the depiction in the film. Its production and release is shrouded in mystery with little known about it and the big question being why it was dumped straight-to-DVD in North America and almost every other market globally. Especially for a relatively expensive film, this is curious. 41,261 IMDb users have given the film a 6.4/10 average rating.]

What do you think of The Experiment?
If you know any details about its troubled production and/or release, please contribute in a comment