Festival Predictions

2013 Cannes Film Festival Predictions: Spike Jonze’s Her

Published on April 4, 2013

#57. Spike Jonze’s Her

Gist: In the not so distant future, Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix), a lonely writer, purchases a newly developed operating system designed to meet the user’s every need; to Theodore’s surprise, a romantic relationship develops between him and his operating system. This unconventional love story blends science fiction and romance in a sweet tale that explores the nature of love and the ways that technology isolates and connects us all.

Prediction: Either Main Competition or Out of Comp, nowhere else. The project is just too big (in arthouse terms), and Jonze – who’s yet to make a great film that doesn’t involve the pen of Charlie Kaufman – is looking to prove that his name doesn’t need to be dependent on anyone else’s. That Hollywood Reporter article from last week seemed to indicate this won’t be ready in time, but stranger things have happened. Also, it’d be pretty great to have a Battle of the Exes in the Main Competition, with his former wife Sofia also looking like a sure bet to present her new film there.

Related Topics:2013 Cannes Film Festival, Her, Spike Jonze

Blake Williams

Blake Williams is an avant-garde filmmaker born in Houston, currently living and working in Toronto. He recently entered the PhD program at University of Toronto's Cinema Studies Institute, and has screened his video work at TIFF (2011 & '12), Tribeca (2013), Images Festival (2012), Jihlava (2012), and the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. Blake has contributed to IONCINEMA.com's coverage for film festivals such as Cannes, TIFF, and Hot Docs. Top Films From Contemporary Film Auteurs: Almodóvar (Talk to Her), Coen Bros. (Fargo), Dardennes (Rosetta), Haneke (Code Unknown), Hsiao-Hsien (Flight of the Red Balloon), Kar-wai (Happy Together), Kiarostami (Where is the Friend's Home?), Lynch (INLAND EMPIRE), Tarantino (Reservoir Dogs), Van Sant (Last Days), Von Trier (The Idiots)