It is great to see Joaquin Phoenix back, and it is even better to see him deliver one of his best performances in a very honest, clever love story.
Unable to commit to signing his devoice papers, a writer seeks companionship after breaking up with his wife through a new computer system with advanced artificial intelligence.
I am not one for watching romantic dramas, or rom-coms, or frankly any film that revolves solely around a relationship triangle... I find them often trite and predictable.
But occasionally one comes along that isn't trite, that prefers to be quirky or beautifully honest with what it is talking about. Love can be a mushy and gaudy subject on film, but I am happy to say that Spike Jonze's Her is subtle, downplayed and dives into many different aspects of a relationship.
The premise sounds goofy, and at times it is deliberately seen as a perplexing idea. A man dates a computer? Really?
But the metaphor is solid. Samantha (the name the operating system OS1 gave herself upon being asked) is represented by voice only, played by Scarlett Johansson, and here's where, for me, the honesty comes into play.
Our protagonist, Theodore, is lonely and wants physical connection with someone. But as the story progresses he sees that simply having someone to talk to, to share things with and someone to listen to is all he needs.
Of course, there's a lot more going on than just that. The film feels like a narrow slice, a cross-section of a much larger futurescape that Spike Jonze has written; we see technology from a very hands-on and domestic perspective that might not be that far from reality.
When considered in this way, Theodore's relationship is unexpected but completely believable in the film's setting and, more importantly, our future.
It also has a great supporting cast, I kept noticing familiar faces especially Tron Legacy's Olivia Wilde and Guardians of the Galaxy's Chris Pratt.
It is an incredibly simple and honest story about what can happen during relationships, but with an almost contemporary science fiction quirk driving it along. You can see why it won the Academy Award for Original Screenplay.
I recommend it for a quiet, thoughtful, loving and often morose experience one evening.
Rush proves that an intense, thrilling and impassioned true story can be made from the world of Formula One!
In the mid-1970s a rivalry between two men gripped the world of motor sport, that of Britain James Hunt, and the Austrian Niki Lauda. The film begins with both men taking the leap from Formula 3 to Formula 1, and their fierce determination to win ties them into a personal battle for the World Championship. But how far will the obsession take them, when the sport's dangers become too great?
Formula One has a bad rap from many, especially when trying to construct a genuine story (memories of Stallone's ridiculous Driven cannot be shaken) but Ron Howard has stuck the nail on the head with this film. While the excellent Senna was a well crafted documentary film, this is of an equal measure for a full dramatization. It heavily focuses on the very real dangers involved, stressing and showing the sort of shocking crashes and devastation that occurred before the sport became as safe as it is now.
Chris Hemsworth plays Hunt, a racer with a rockstar's mentality, good looks and womanising antics, who instantly falls for the glamorous lifestyle of Formula One, while his polar opposite Niki Lauda, played impeccably by Daniel Bruhl, is an intelligent recluse who finds Hunt's behavior unbearable.
Both performances are excellent, they radiant the confidence that these men must have had to commit to such a deadly sport, yet also carry massive personal burdens that discolour their lives as they rise to fame. Unlike Senna, which was quite biased towards Aryton Senna, Ron Howard's film does its best to give each man equal footing; neither of them is a saint, and neither of them makes the right choice. At the end of the day, they are both foolish and brave in equal measure.
The film's direction of the sport's intensity is spine-tingling. Formula One is, nowadays, often seen as drab and repetitive, but Rush does capture the ferocity of the cars and sheer lunacy of the people involved.
Of course any Formula One fan must see this film, and of course they should know what significant event occurs during the story. While the film follows both men there comes a point where Niki Lauda's story comes to the forefront and, compared to the rest of the film, it becomes so intense it is almost unbearable. In my local cinema some audience members were apparently sick, and I sympathise; the film's intensity and style makes everything intense, but I'm sure a lot of it stems from this being real events, captured with grim reality.
Will non-Formula One fans enjoy this? I think they will. It is a story worth telling, and it is a definitive rivalry between two very different men. It isn't buried under Formula One jargon or rules (I... admit, as a fan, I could have used more of the sport's structure being involved, a lot of the season's races are summarized in montage too) so it won't lose people.
I can't say anything bothered me to the extent of ruining the film for me. It is a beautifully crafted love letter to the sport as a whole, and captures the raw passion that it can hold (and one can argue, a passion it has lost).
But one, one little thing... the soundtrack was a bit bland, and the credit roll proved it to me: Hans Zimmer, god, he really wasn't the man for this film. I don't want Batman/Superman music droning on and on here. But like I said, it didn't ruin the film for me!
Go and see it, especially if you are a fan of motor sport, this is a great interpretation of real sporting events with zero seams on show!
Additional Marshmallows: Daniel Bruhl was so focused on delivering the performance truthfully, he was in contact daily with Niki Lauda asking him how he had felt during the events.
