Anomalisa

There's no other to say it: 'Anomalisa' is beyond the ordinary, its something like you've never seen before (well, almost). Oscar-Winner Charlie Kaufman Writes & Directs this unusual story, with sensitivity, although the final-act turns up bland. More on that later...

'Anomalisa' Synopis: A man crippled by the Mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.

'Anomalisa' is a story about a man stuck in monotony & depression. Kaufman along-with Co-Director Duke Johnson, delivers a sad story about facing repetition in life. And they begin the story beautifully & it remains great even after its protagonist forms a relationship with a "different soul". BUT, the final-act is a downer. The narrative falls apart & even though Kaufman's message comes across, it doesn't leave an impact. The open-ending also doesn't work. In short, 'Anomalisa' works wonders, until it falls apart in its penultimate moments.

Kaufman's Writing is truly terrific in the first-hour, but as mentioned prominently before, this story deserved a better end! Kaufman & Duke Johnson's Direction is skilled, as the stop-motion adult animation, is brilliantly done.

David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh & Tom Noonan deliver mesmerizing vocal performances. Leigh, especially, is magnificent. After 'The Hateful Eight', Leigh triumphs once again with a super act in 'Anomalisa'.

On the whole, Despite some faults, 'Anomalisa' deserves a watch for its brave approach & its perfectly done depressing setting.

Caught this film at a last minute matinée at ArcLight Hollywood. It's a stop motion animated film about a British author, voiced by David Thewlis, coming to Cincinnati for one night for a conference and his time spent in a first class hotel.

At the beginning I was impatient with it, I thought it might be just a stop motion South Park episode, where all the voices are pretty much the same. Then when the character of Lisa came on the screen, it all changed for me. I got it, it clicked.

The film is so disarmingly simple in its beauty and elegance. The relationship between the two main characters really touches you. Plus I'd never thought I'd be moved by the singing of a particular well known 1980s pop song in the film.

The role of Lisa was a diamond in the rough character, a beautiful, flawed girl whose been wrongly ignored romantically and it just takes the right person to see how fantastic she really is. It made me think of the times I wished I'd had a Lisa in my life and the times I was fortunate enough to have one. Lisa was voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh in a performance that fooled me, I was so drawn into the character I had no idea it was her, I only saw Lisa as Lisa.

While not a perfect film, it won me over and works on many levels, the filmmakers, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, leave it largely up for the viewer to decide what the film is about. Is the lead character insane? Is he in Limbo, his own private Hell, is everyone a robot, wearing masks literally? Does he see oil painting beauty in someone one day and the next sees only cracks and flaws? Who can say?

One thing though, voice actor Tom Noonan, albeit talented, should never sing again, ever. Never again, Dollarhyde, never again.

Anomalisa, or as I call it, A Mona Lisa, is the same as the iconic painting that is its namesake, kind of a thing of flawed beauty.

"Anomalisa" is in my opinion one of this year's most important films. The film centres on Michael Stone, a depressed customer service guru who struggles to connect with others, finally meeting someone he can truly connect with - a woman named Lisa.

Anyone familiar with Kaufman's work knows that he has a tendency to write incredibly deep and complex stories embedded with a plethora of themes. "Anomalisa" might just be the one exception (or anomaly) to that fact. The story is surprisingly simple; most of it takes place over the course of 24 hours. The messages behind it, fortunately, will still require multiple viewings and further analysis in order to be fully grasped. The final synthesis is elegantly woven to near perfection and is at times humorous and even thrilling. Running at only 90 minutes, the film never feels slow nor bloated. I believe "Anomalisa" is a good starting point for those just starting to get into Kaufman's filmography.

The stop-motion animation is some of the best that I have ever seen on the big screen. For a project that was funded on Kickstarter, I have to say that the quality of the animation is the equivalent to what you would see in an Aardman Animations or Laika production - if not better. There were certain shots that made me stop and really appreciate the efforts that the team went through just to make all of their characters' movements flow realistically. Kudos to them!

The reasons why I think "Anomalisa" is one of this year's most important films not only have to do with the way the film was financed and produced, but that it also opens up a dialogue on isolation and social disillusionment - they are usually seen as flaws inherent only within the individual, despite the fact that everyone plays some part in furthering it.

"Anomalisa" is a true work of art on many levels. It is a simple story that touches on a wide range of emotions, riddled with the complexities of our perceptions on relationships. Do not be surprised if this film makes you laugh more than cry. Do not be surprised if this film makes you cry more than laugh - for that is the true beauty of this anomaly of a film.

(RATING: ☆☆☆½ out of 5)

THIS FILM IS RECOMMENDED.

IN BRIEF: A serious treatise on loneliness that, while making some intriguing insights, does ramble on and on.

GRADE: B-

SYNOPSIS: On a business trip, a lonely man searches for love among the ruins of his ordinary life.

I begin this review with a quote from Immanuel Kant: "Happiness is not an ideal of reason, but of imagination". This sums up the film, Anomalisa very succinctly. The film is an imaginative journey into the mind of a sad man who has lost all reason, living in a world where everyone is uniformly the same, in voice and appearance.

Nominated for a 2015 Oscar for Best Animated Film (and finally receiving wider distribution nearly 4 months later), Charlie Kauffman's stop-motion film has an odd yet intoxicating allure. It is a character study of a lonely man content to live within his own illusions, with reality just outside his grasp.

David Thewlis voices the character of Michael Stone, a man unable to connect with others. Michael settles for his cloistered existence. His responsibilities to his family and his job ties him down. He is a successful author and keynote speaker, discussing self-help techniques to the masses without the ability to help himself in his private life. On a business trip, he meets various strangers (all voiced by Tom Noonan). A feeling of hopelessness overpowers him. But it isn't until he finally hears a different voice in the form of Lisa Hesselman (Jennifer Jason Leigh) that he finally awakens to life and all of its wondrous possibilities. He nicknames her Anomalisa (a cross between an anomaly and Lisa herself). Their encounter becomes the crux of the film as MIchael's sanity slowly becomes unhinged, in the most literal sense.

Writer / director Charlie Kauffman creates a dreamlike film that is visually captivating but leaves many questions unanswered. (Sharing directing credit is also Duke Johnson.) With its deep philosophical bent, Mr. Kauffman's screenplay allows for too much intellectualizing and grand- standing of the human condition, interfering with the beauty of his simple tale.

The film is beautifully staged with wonderful detailed sets by the production team of John Joyce and Huy Vu and a haunting score by the reliable Carter Burwell that adds to the melancholia. The film's initial premise is intriguing, like experiencing a profound lecture or reading a compelling essay or poem, yet the level of satisfaction will differ with each viewer. Does one like metaphysical debates about the importance of life, happiness, and the general state of the human condition? Is it time well spent or wasted on thought-provoking meaningless observations? Is the glass half-empty, half-full, or not really there at all? Was I caught in a freshman class of Philosophy 101? (As you might tell, my feelings were decidedly mixed.)

While I enjoyed the film's animation and the atmospheric toll on the characters, this wisp of a plot edged on monotony, even though the film dealt with some provocative concepts. Technically, the stop-motion aspects are quite effective and achieve a graceful elegance. (Midway, the film takes on a more surreal quality which I personally found more compelling before it reverses itself once again.) But the overall script needed more risks into a wider range of bizarre and weird images that are capable within this animated genre. Instead, Kauffman and Co. settle for a tame strangeness as it trips over in its own wordiness and drawn-out ramblings.

No doubt this film is a labor of love and, on that, it should be commended. Anomalisa is the type of film project that one can greatly admire, but love never became part of the equation for this reviewer. Like the character of Michael, I just could not connect emotionally. I remained an avid observer and outsider throughout this movie-going experience, with true happiness just out of my grasp as well.

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Despite being critically acclaimed, 'Anomalisa' seems to have divided audiences. People were left mesmerised and touched by the film, while others were alienated and perplexed by it.

After seeing 'Anomalisa' for myself, it is not hard to see why it was acclaimed but at the same time it is not hard to see why it hasn't clicked with some people. Personally think that 'Anomalisa' could have been better, and it would from humble opinion would have worked better as a short film, but its many good points are so well executed that it hard to be too hard on it. Because the visuals, music and voice acting were as wonderful as they were, even if I didn't like the film it would not have gotten less than a 4 or 5.

The film apparently was originally intended to be a short film, and it does show because some of the film does feel over-stretched with padded scenes that try to disguise thin plotting (while the sex scene was intimate and touching, it was also drawn-out, somewhat too much so).

Some of the first act in particular does fail to maintain momentum, being very draggy and uneventful in places. For example, the scenes intensely detailing Michael leaving the airport, checking into the hotel and going to the room could have either been trimmed or omitted and it would not have harmed the story at all. The ending is one that is open to interpretation, don't mind these kind of endings but this one felt sudden and abrupt, the ambiguity suggestive of Kaufmann being unsure as how to end the film.

However, 'Anomalisa' looks absolutely amazing, the stop-motion style having such a beauty and realism to it as well as imaginative in its detail. When it comes to animated films this year, stylistically 'Anomalisa' definitely stands out when it comes to uniqueness. The music score is hypnotic and dream-like while also touchingly understated.

When it comes to the script there are some very thought-provoking and poetic moments, while the narratively-linear story achieves a fine balance of the distinctively-Kaufmann psychologically surreal (such as Michael reading the letter from an ex-lover and imagining her presence and Michael's dream, which was wonderfully strange), the painfully sad and the achingly humane. While some have said that they didn't get a lot out of 'Anomalisa', while not thematically original exactly the film does say a lot profound to me of the repetitiveness of relationships, it's the inside that counts and of the necessity of believing we and our loved ones are special.

The characters are neurotic (almost on the same level of the neurose-ridden characters in a Woody Allen film), especially Michael, but there was something about the touching chemistry between Michael and Lisa and their introvertedness (coming from a fairly introverted person myself) that appealed to me even if they were deliberately not the most likable in the world. The voice acting is hard to fault.

Jennifer Jason Leigh clearly put her heart and soul into Lisa and David Thewlis is similarly terrific. Meanwhile it was truly mesmerising as to how Tom Noonan voiced all the rest of the characters (essential to the point that the film made about sounding the same, or 'same voice', which would only have worked really with one voice doing them) and still managed to make them distinct from one another, not many people can do that.

Overall, a polarising film that will mesmerise viewers but alienate others. With me, it alienated at first and it would have worked better as a short film as intended originally but mostly found it very rewarding sticking with it. 7/10 Bethany Cox