Lorna Irvine reviews the latest from Spike Jonze.
The mother figure (as a template for potential life partners) looms large in Spike Jonze' tech-saturated not-too-distant future study of loneliness and masculine sexual yearning: and there's more Freudian and Jungian stuff here than an entire Woody Allen box-set. A sleeping mother is filmed as part of a project on human vulnerability; a film star posts provocative pregnant shots of herself online and a computer game earns you extra “Mom points” for completing the school run after cooking the perfect breakfast.
Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a shy yet emotionally articulate man with an uber-Selleck moustache, works in a company which recreates the lost art of letter writing. He is profoundly unhappy, going through a painful divorce from childhood sweetheart Catherine (a brilliant Rooney Mara) until he finds his own mother/lover figure—a plug-in computer device.
'Samantha' as the device calls 'herself' is playfully voiced by Scarlett Johansson, an OS1 or Operating System the user can 'chat' to by earpiece. Soon, they are 'dating' and in true 'manic pixie dream girl'- or should that be 'manic pixel dream girl' ?!-style, she helps him see life in Technicolor again. Yet, inevitably, this is problematic, and soon 'Samantha' who is imbued with a conscience through Theodore, is proving no match for genuine intimacy.
Jonze' film successfully veers from ridiculous comedy into high concept drama, yet feels a little hollow, only hinting at bigger questions in spite of a touching and likeable central performance from Phoenix and excellent support from Amy Adams as Theodore's best friend Amy. The scenes of lovelorn insomnia are credible and heartbreaking.
In spite of its many flaws, there are more ideas, moments of pathos and somnambulant visuals than your average Matt Damon blockbuster. Not an Eternal Sunshine of The Spotless Mind then, but not at all bad. Go tell yo' mama.
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