By Michaela Haaser
Many might have seen the movie Her with Joaquin Phoenix, but if you haven’t then at least listen to the soundtrack. A blend of ambient and melancholy tones that will both surprise and delight! It is personally one of my favorite soundtracks, up there with the soundtracks of Little Miss Sunshine and Dan in Real Life. It really is the best music for any time of day.
The theme of the movie is love; how to find it and keep it flourishing, or to simply learn how to love yourself and others. Her can be seen as incredibly hopeful or terribly pessimistic. Joaquin Pheonix’s character, Theodore, is a soft-hearted man who is easily one of the most relatable characters in a movie I have ever seen. He exhibits symptoms of depression and whenever he feels vulnerable or conflicted he withdraws, leaving his partner feeling neglected. In one scene, his girlfriend reaches out to him asking him what is wrong. He says he’s fine but he withdraws and distances himself from her. Theodore struggles with being happy by himself and with another person. This struggle is put on screen to a wonderful soundtrack that will tug at anyone’s heart strings. Even if you don’t like the music, the plot is interesting and evokes a lot of emotion. The cinematography is stunning, I loved the use of the color red.