Her

Each of Spike Jonze’s films to date has hinged on a far-fetched premise, but, crucially, they have all possessed an insight and depth of feeling that makes them much more than a mere flight of fancy. His first original screenplay Her is set in a future society cleverly extrapolated from our own, with the hordes of people constantly engaging with their handheld device being a very familiar sight.

Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix) is a lonely geek who falls in love with his computer’s new operating system, an artificial intelligence called Samantha (voiced by a sultry Scarlett Johansson), and Jonze mines this odd situation for an extraordinary range of emotions, with Phoenix’s reactions to his unseen paramour speaking volumes through the smallest gestures.

Jonze ultimately allows his bold concept to drift away into a rather trite conclusion, but so much of his film is sincere, thoughtful and lovingly crafted. Her asks us to consider what constitutes a ‘real’ relationship in a world where every interaction is filtered through technology, making it feel like a vital contemporary romance. [Philip Concannon]