Relationships are complex, infuriating (at times), exciting and generally speaking transformative experiences. We never exit a relationship the same way we found it, unless – of course – we are speaking about my ongoing and sustained love affair with garlic hummus. Which refuses to end. I digress.
The ‘Date Night’ has become synonymous with the modern relationship especially for our PlentyOfFish members. Life, more often than not becomes busy. We always recommend to our users that taking time to unplug helps you both focus on fostering your budding relationship. This is a great way to have a special routine without any of the monotony. Collaborating with ‘your person’ on what would be a fun shared experience does nothing but strengthen the bond you are creating together. This week was my ‘Date Night’ choice and I jumped at the chance to see the movie Her.
Overall Date Night Rating: A-
If you have ever felt the desire to reach out and connect with someone in hopes of a fulfilling romantic relationship, Spike Jonze’s ‘Her’ will be nothing short of a delight. Jonze combines the highly relatable modern love story with the beautifully imagined not too distant future where integrated advanced technology seamlessly transitions into our lives. His protagonist Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) – a sensitive writer – is struggling with his impending divorce. A particularly bizare-yet-strangely-relatable phone sex experience endears us to Jonze’s cerebral anti-hero early on. Soon thereafter in an odd-but-not-impossible turn of events he is connected with a new, highly evolved Siri-esque operating system: Samantha (Scarlet Johansson).
Although the ‘relationship’ that Samantha and Theodore have is not between two physical forms – we see a connection form that is all too common in the early stages of online dating: an intellectually emotional one. It’s easy to become engrossed in the stunning cinematography, sets, costuming and score that accompanies this new age love story. The characters are complex, compelling and at most times extremely realistic representations of most anyone that is living (or existing) through a break up and looking for that special someone to come back into their life.
An extremely interesting point about the possible inspiration for ‘Her’ came from Vulture and David Edelstein:
“Is Jonze reworking his own personal history? In his ex-wife Sofia Coppola’s Lost in Translation (where Coppola’s alter-ego is played by Johansson—a bizarre coincidence?), the husband (a music video director) is oblivious to his wife’s alienation. Her is an admission of that obliviousness and a lament for it. (Proof that Jonze has also evolved: Theodore’s fear that he’s sinking into himself, that everything he experiences will be a lesser version of what he has already experienced. No one who expresses an idea like that has stopped growing.)”
Regardless if this is a real life soul-cleansing or rather a heartbreakingly honest conversation about love – PlentyOfFish members will connect deeply over this earnest tale. The commonalities of dating, connecting and as Theodore says ‘sharing a life with someone’ – are sentiments that are shared widely across our site through our members . It is definitely worth the watch and will have you and your date talking about more than just relationships with technology for days after.
