10 Excellent Films That Don't Actually Have A Plot
3. Her (2013)
Director: Spike Jonze Essentially a romance film between a man and his OS, Her is a great example of a film that might have actually suffered from the inclusion of a plot. After all, the story is about a man who is in love with his operating system, so there were already plenty of ways it could have been handled poorly. Imagine if someone had had the bright idea of turning Samantha (Scarlett Johansson) evil, Hal from 2001 style. Lets say her program malfunctioned, effecting her attitude, turning her into a paranoid, homicidal maniac needing to be shut down. It would have been awful. Instead, Spike Jonze demonstrates complete dedication to storytelling over plot, writing and directing the movie around universally relatable concepts such as love and heartbreak. Set in a futuristic Los Angeles, the film stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, a divorcee looking for a love in a technologic future in which everyone dresses in a hipster chic and loves playing video games. His relationship with Samantha is almost completely accepted in this society (with the exception of his ex-wife), and while there are difficulties to their being in love, there are also no reasons why they cant be. The film isnt about overcoming adversity (or shutting down an evil AI gone vogue), its about the processes of relationships, falling in love and having your heart broken. The lack of plot keeps the focus on the characters and their developing understanding of one another, teasing some larger implication to OS intelligence, but emphasising the human aspect to the film at all times.
