Spike Jonze's I'm Here

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I haven't seen anything about this on the site, but if there is something I missed, I'm sorry.
But has anyone seen Spike Jonze's new short film I'm Here? I watched it on YouTube before it was taken down, but it can still be viewed on the movie's website http://www.imheremovie.com/ but the screenings are on a schedule; you can't just watch it whenever you want, only when it's showing.
I just thought I'd share this with you. In my mind, it's just a continuing of Jonze's brilliance. It's the really simple love story of two robots in either a very recent future or alternate universe in which robots and humans coexist, though not necessarily always in a fair, friendly manner. But that's not the point. The love is the point. The relationship, the opening oneself up both to new experiences and to another being and what this love can cause you to do to help said other person. Like I said, very simple. But beautifully done.
So, what do you think?
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Very beautiful and touching. Spike Jonze has an incredible eye for presenting middle-class reality with all the decay and simple sentimentality that comes with it.

Of Montreal was in it too. My favorite group. Ending with an Animal Collective song was also win.

What I've been trying to figure out is the disturbing metaphor involving the giving up of one's body. Seems to be quite perverse in a way. I know he saved her life and all at the end, but even beforehand with his limbs. Would you give up a limb? Or is this a cute play on "an arm and a leg"? The question "what's a gift without a sacrifice?" comes to mind, but is love really sacrifice? Especially when it is so one-way?
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I just watched it after seeing this thread. It's adorable. It's amazingly realistic, considering its main characters are robots. But I think it's a little disturbing. I'm not sure what the message is. Like PN says, their form of love warps into something a little perverse. I wasn't sure if after she lost her arm that first time that she didn't intentionally lose her other body parts so he'd give her his. This probably isn't the case since she said she didn't want him to give her his leg. But we never actually see her other accidents, or even the first one for that matter.


What exactly was the message of this story? Or was it just supposed to be a quaint, peculiar love story?

Either way, Spike Jonze did film it beautifully. He needs to direct more often. I especially like how he films scenes bathed in sunlight, which he did a lot in Where the Wild Things Are.


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It's almost misogynistic in way. Like suggestive of a succubus who takes away the man's life force. Then there's the siren-like call of:

There are many of us...


That's probably the message right there. Women are succubuses, and there're many of them. Watch out or they'll swallow you up! First your checkbook, next your limbs!

I'm joking a little here, but the film does pass into that absurd area quite easily on its own. I think the film is much too beautiful to mean anything, but this is why people have to be careful when making easily allegorical films like this or Solaris. You walk into dangerous territory. Especially when the message is hidden under all that sweetness. There's where the true obscenity reveals itself. It doesn't just come out like Anti-Christ, which is an obvious critique.



Also, I can't think of any deeper meaning, either philosophical or literal, that ties the phrase I'm here with the rest of the story. I thought maybe it would be a critique on class or racial prejudices, but the differences between robots and humans were hardly explored; I then thought maybe it's a statement of independence or something, but the person who uses this phrase is completely dependent on the guy. Then I thought maybe it's like an exclamation, or a triumph of simply existing or something, but that has nothing to do with the story.

So what was the significance of her placing that note on the street sign? Seeing as it's the title of the film, I assume it encompasses some central theme.



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"I'm here" is like an existential phrase, but that was not explored or hinted at in any way whatsoever.

It might mean that the body doesn't matter. Only his existence matters. Even if he's just a head.

I don't want to get on the film for not being some kind of loldeep statement, but Jonze is usually pretty amazing in this category. BJM and WTWTA were both incredible in this respect.

Yeah. I could have gone for this being a full-length film. He could have explored all the interesting aspects of Robot v. Human and maybe stretched out the romance more so it seemed less like the girl was just taking advantage of the guy.



And don't forget Adaptation.! Also, the existentialist angle was the first one I approached it from, but there's nothing there about it, without stretching.

Maybe the point was that we weren't sure who was getting the most out of their relationship. The entire opening act of the movie paints the man as incredibly lonely, living an unsatisfying life. When he offers pieces of himself to her, maybe it fulfills him more than it helps her. But this would be a pretty trite way of showing that.

Honestly, I don't think it's meant to be deep. I think it's meant to be taken at face value as a cute love story with an indie-hipster mentality. And it succeeds wonderfully.



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Yeah. As morally ambiguous as it is, I'm not going to say it failed.



I just went to a Q&A/book signing event last night with Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers. McSweeney's was releasing a book, There Are Many of Us, that's kind of a behind-the-scenes look at I'm Here with the soundtrack and DVD accompanying it. So maybe after I watch it again on a larger screen and much better speakers with mark f I'll have more to say in this thread. Also, I mean, I watched it like 5 months ago when I made this thread so it's not the freshest in my mind...



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Sounds like an awesome event. One of the my favorite directors and one of my favorite writers.

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I wish I could kick back, chill and watch films with mark f.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
My first thoughts were that this film just depicted the way of the world, at least from the male's perspective. Maybe I should say from the wimpy guy's perspective, but all I know is that every time in my early life I pursued a woman from afar, she didn't want to have anything to do with me. At least, until she NEEDED me. Then, I was at her beck and call. It's not misogynistic and it's not anti-woman in any other sense. It's reality, at least if you aren't some superjock who's afraid to let his feelings (if any) out.

We can pretty much understand the male lead and relate to him. Most everything is filtered through him. It's more difficult to understand the female. Once again, it's no sexist commentary; it's just the truth. Guys wear their hearts on their sleeves. At least if they are lonely. Remember, he seems to have no friends at all, but when we first see her, she's surrounded by friends (or so it seems).

One other thing I want to comment on is how the guy has a body which seems to be made up of "storm trooper parts" plus his computerized head which has highly-evocative ultra-human eyes. The female seems like a living, breathing rag doll, so it doesn't even seem as if his "parts" could ever actually "fix" her. She seems to be made of "different stuff", and being female, she obviously is made of different stuff than a male. It seems that his gesture is most important (certainly from his perspective). Once again, until I met my wife, who went out of her way to please me as much as I tried to please her, I had never come across another woman who seemed to treat me so special and actually wanted to "give herself" to me. The guy gives himself, completely, to his lady love, and irregardless of who uses the phrase "I'm here", he's there in her lap at the end of the movie. He will always be there for her unless she disposes of him. I honestly do not believe that she will dispose of him, but then again, I guess she could have a trophy wall with all these "robot" heads on it. Somehow, I don't think so.

I'll check back later and explain why I'm just so wrong in this post...
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Sounds like an awesome event. One of the my favorite directors and one of my favorite writers.

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I wish I could kick back, chill and watch films with mark f.
So, essentially what you're saying is you envy my life?



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It's ALWAYS a sexist commentary, mark.

You even used the word "trophy".

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The guy gives himself, completely, to his lady love, and irregardless of who uses the phrase "I'm here", he's there in her lap at the end of the movie. He will always be there for her unless she disposes of him. I honestly do not believe that she will dispose of him, but then again, I guess she could have a trophy wall with all these "robot" heads on it. Somehow, I don't think so.

I'll check back later and explain why I'm just so wrong in this post...
hmmm. A sentimental robot love story or she got him where she wanted him with his head on the mantlepiece? or maybe I'm just a cynic. She does seem incredibly accident prone. Maybe she just fancied a squarer body and this dope was in the right place at the wrong time



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It's in the mode of a fable and we've got to treat the logic of it as such. Unfortunately, Jonze always works in this organic, cinema verite style that really undermines this concept. It is SO real, but we've got to analyze it with kid's gloves. His Where The Wild Things Are works better, because it precisely explores the REAL underside of what we before came to see as a goofy fable. The characters became darker and heavier like real people, and Jonze's style is prefect for this kind of redefinition. In I'm Here, the opposite is happening. The progression of the fable is shot darkly and realistically with the palpable drama of a real accident/operation, but the conclusion of these transplants is too absurd to not ALSO be sinister. If Jonze wanted us to see the bright side, he shouldn't have overshadowed the transfer of body in such a realistic way. The end, though inevitable from the first amputation, crossed a line where the typical "genre" concessions become blurred.