This is the man behind efforts as diverse as Jackass, Being John Malkovich, Where the Wild Things Are, and those unforgettable music videos with the Beastie Boys running around as undercover cops and Christopher Walken dancing and flying around a hotel. All of them reflect a childlike innocence and sincerity, a humanist tone that the darkly inventive scripts of Charlie Kaufman benefitted from, when Jonze turned them into movies. They're each one vibrant and full of life, but ironically, the most vibrant, lively creation of Jonze's thus far is about a computer operating system finding love with a man. Wait a minute. This shouldn't work at all. A man falling for his computer? That's weird, and creepy, and off-putting. But by the release of the film's second trailer, it was clear this movie was taking a wholly different angle on its premise. And by the time I had finished watching it in the theater, I knew it was the best film of the year. It's not about artificial intelligence at all... it's a love story featuring a premise that enables Jonze to delve into the deepest, most resonant insight into the human condition, better than any filmmaker in years has. It's about the most basic, fundamental struggles in everyday life, namely, finding love in a world where people are constantly growing further apart.
