Her

Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore in the romantic drama "Her," directed by Spike Jonze, a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photos courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. 

"Her" is writer-director Spike Jonze's fourth directed feature and his first as sole writer. His previous films--

      "Being John Malkovich," "Adaptation" and "Where the Wild Things Are"--were collaborations with screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (the first two) and novelist Dave Eggers and Maurice Sendak.

A sci-fi romance set in a near-future L.A., "Her" stars Joaquin Phoenix as Theodore Twombly, a ghostwriter who composes personal letters and notes for other people at a company called BeautifulHandwrittenLetters.com. Theo falls in love with an advanced computer operating system (voiced by Scarlett Johansson). The OS, named Samantha, resides in a portable communication device.

The story was inspired by an earlier instant-messaging technology Jonze discovered (before Apple's Siri) and the script was written three years ago. "The initial idea was a man falling for a voice," Jonze said. "But it didn't become something until I started to think about it as a relationship movie."

Rooney Mara as Catherine.

Cast includes Rooney Mara, Amy Adams and Olivia Wilde. The film opens in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto on Dec. 18, expanding nationwide on Jan. 10 (view trailer) and is nominated for three Golden Globes: best musical/comedy, best screenplay and best actor in a musical or comedy for Phoenix' performance. "Her" is also named best film of 2013 by the National Board of Review.

Joaquin Phoenix with director Spike Jonze on the set. Photo by Sam Zhu. 

"Spike Jonze is one of the most talented and visionary filmmakers working today," Annie Schulhof, NBR president, said. "In Her, he explores the age-old themes of love and human connection in a completely fresh and innovative way. It is an outstanding achievement that is sure to become a new classic."