Golden Globes- and Oscar-nominated movie, Her, certainly gives me a doze of what could possibly happen in the next 5-10 years.

The movie is set in a slightly futuristic world, where people are highly dependent on technology, walking around with earbuds and talking possibly with their computer. Say what? No, really. You just tell the artificial intelligence in your ear to delete an email, read out a new one or send out one, etc etc. Anyway, that’s not the story.

The story is about a man named Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) who worked as a letter writer and was just separated from his wife. Yes, you read that right – a letter writer. I’ll get back to what I think about that. But let’s move on for now, shall we? A new operating system came up in which the artificial intelligence was personalized to each individual. Theodore’s artificial intelligence was Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson) and as time went by, they fell in love with each other.

What do I think about the movie? It’s a two-hour long movie but I do enjoy it, partly because I can relate to it. What do I mean by that? We all know this application called Siri available on iPhone. You asked her a question and she would answer you, sometimes wrong answers, but she will answer you. She will also perform actions for you such as reminding you of an event that you have scheduled on your phone. The artificial intelligence in this movie is just a more advanced version of Siri. If some genius out there decided to tweak the programming of Siri to make it more personalized to each individual’s needs and wants, this movie would be more of a reality, which is scary. There is a lack of interaction with people. You’re walking around and talking to your computer! You might even fall in love with your computer just like the protagonist! And the letter writer part is probably the most ridiculous job ever but I am not surprised if it’s going to happen in the next 5-10 years. Theodore’s job was to write letters for people for their loved ones. I’m not amazed at the talking to your computer and the computer typed it down for you. There are software like this in the market already. I just find that it’s ridiculous for people to hire other people to write a letter for them, or at least that’s what I think Theodore’s job was. I hope in the next 5-10 years, people would still write letters on their own to their loved ones. We are already interacting less and less with people at the present time – people are using their phones while having dinner; people are walking around texting vigorously on their phones while going to work or school or wherever. In other words, this movie is relatable. Everyone can understand and will understand the dependence that we have with technology.

Do I recommend the movie? Yes. It makes you think and it’d be a great discussion topic with your friends. I understand now why it’s nominated for Golden Globes and Oscar. To me, it’s a drama rather than a comedy (it was nominated in the Best Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical category in the Golden Globes) but it does have its funny moments such as the video game that Theodore played. One thing that I want to happen is that. (Please have that game for real. I will play it just to see that cute vulgar character. It’s such a cute adorable thing.) Anyway, I do like the little things that the director did such as showing the kettle boiling while Theodore was talking to Samantha at the later part of the movie. It’s just little things shown to signify the emotion of a scene. I think it’s interesting. Lastly, do watch it if you can find the time. Please do take note though that it’s M18, at least in Singapore.

The trailer…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzV6mXIOVl4