Anomalisa (2015) User Reviews

Kaufman's Bleak Outlook on Life and Human Relationships

[evanston_dad · 8/10 · 15 July 2016]

Every time I see a Charlie Kaufman film I'm reminded how fearless he is at examining the human condition and why I need to put a lot of time in between watching his movies.

In "Anomalisa," his Academy-Award nominated animated film, David Thewlis and especially Jennifer Jason Leigh do tremendous voice work as an emotionally ill minor celebrity and the shy, awkward woman with whom he enjoys a one-night stand while at a conference at which he is the speaker. The film is an examination of middle-aged male discontent and loneliness, a subject a younger version of me was always impatient with and which the 41-year-old version of me now finds hits uncomfortably close to home. Kaufman creates a sad character who has many unpleasant tendencies but isn't necessarily a completely unpleasant man, and allows us to see how this one night in the man's life and his approach to human relationships is a stand-in for his entire adult life and the driving force behind his depression.

As in his masterpiece, "Synecdoche, New York," Kaufman refuses to give in to the convention of happy, or at least hopeful, endings, and suggests that it is possible to live an entire life being utterly miserable if you don't possess the resources to do otherwise, a terrifying idea to anyone who has struggled with depression, anxiety, or even just prolonged bouts of general malaise. In so many Hollywood movies about unhappy people, the unhappy people just need the emotional connection to that one special person that shakes them out of their funk and changes everything around for them. One of the things I liked best about "Anomalisa" is its suggestion that, while those special people really do exist, happiness in any one person is something that has to come from inside and isn't going to be imposed on one by another. It isn't comfortable to think about the possibility of life being a long series of missed opportunities, but it feels honest.

Grade: A-

Abstract Anomaly that Doesn't Quite Cut it

[DareDevilKid · 6/10 · 31 January 2016]

Reviewed by: Dare Devil Kid (DDK)

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

'm a bit mystified by the accolades of "masterpiece" that are being heaped upon "Anomalisa", a stop-motion animation drama co-directed by Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson. It's a unique film, no doubt, and one that takes a lot of risks and has a number of scenes that work quite beautifully. It has the mordant, awkward bits of humor and wry observation we have come to expect from Kaufman, but not the insight; it's all surface, which is inadvertently personified by the artifice of the stop-motion animation. The film is supposed to tell us something about human relationships and the conflict between our ideals and our reality, but it's all muddled, which is what makes its near universal praise by critics so bewildering. Kaufman has certainly earned his share of deserved praise for his inimitable, boundary-pushing screenplays for Spike Jonze's "Being John Malkovich" and "Adaptation", and Michel Gondry's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind". But, he's also hit a few critical bumps along the way, including an earlier collaboration with Gondry, "Human Nature", and his directorial debut, the unmitigated mess "Synecdoche, New York". "Anomalisa", while not quite like the latter, isn't also anywhere near to the quality of the former.

The majority of the film takes place in a nondescript upscale hotel in Cincinnati, where Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis), a published customer service guru on the lecture circuit, has just arrived. Though a conventionally handsome man in his early 50s who is clearly successful professionally and financially, Michael joins the ranks of miserable Kaufman protagonists whose lives are constantly running aground on their own ennui. Potential redemption arrives in the form of Lisa Hesselman (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a conference attendee he meets at the hotel and to whom he is instantly drawn. Severely lacking in self-esteem and poignantly awkward, Lisa is not the conventional object of male desire, but that is precisely what makes her so fascinating (and Michael's attention so surprising to her).

The film is irrefutably a technical marvel, spectacularly illustrating how stop-motion animation can be just as physically and emotionally convincing as any other medium of human expression or technical wizardry. The puppets, which were individually designed and printed using 3D printers, are amazingly lifelike - almost, but not quite, to the point of being uncanny. They stay just this side of the uncanny valley, never venturing toward that precipitous drop- off where animation that is too lifelike becomes weird.

The problems with "Anomalisa" stem from the two main characters, starting with Michael, who is such a miserable, self-absorbed mope that it's virtually impossible to sympathize with him. Michael's physical mundanity belies the intensity of his narcissism, which keeps him from connecting with anyone and ensures that he remains miserable and alone, even when surrounded by others. Early on in the film, we become aware that all the other characters — from a chatty cab driver, to the hotel bellhop, to Michael's wife and son and ex-girlfriend - all have the exact same voice (Tom Noonan's voice, to be exact). It's a clever, albeit potentially confusing, means of conveying the sameness with which Michael views everyone around him, which is heightened by the fact that all the faces on the puppets playing the other characters are oddly similar, as well. The key is the name of the name of hotel where Michael stays: the Hotel Fregoli, a reference to the real- life, but extremely rare Fregoli delusion, a psychological disorder in which a person comes to believe that different people around him are actually the same person in disguise. We aren't meant to think that Michael actually suffers from this disorder (although he says several times that he feels like something is wrong with him psychologically); rather, it plays as a kind of metaphor for Michael's interpersonal isolation, which renders everyone around him a single, undifferentiated mass to whom he cannot connect.

Except Lisa. When he hears Lisa's voice, he recognizes her as fundamentally distinct from all the others and immediately seeks her out. Jennifer Jason Leigh does a fantastic job voicing Lisa, and she makes her the most interesting character on-screen (which she is clearly meant to be - a lovable oddball). But, the film stalls emotionally because there is never any depth or meaning to Michael's intense attraction to her. The film is resolutely concrete in depicting his depressive moroseness, but then it gets all abstract when it comes to his propensity for love, which throws everything off-balance. Thus, even the film's most touching sequence - a rather graphic sex scene that plays fair with the inherent awkwardness of two people who barely know each other suddenly getting intimate - doesn't ultimately work because it has nothing emotional to connect to except an idea. Thus, it works in isolation, but not in concert with the rest of the film.

The fundamental problem with "Anomalisa" is that it's little more than the story of an unsympathetic narcissist assigning his piece of mind to a good-hearted oddball. As a romance, it doesn't work because we just want Lisa to get away from Michael lest he drag her into his sad- sack pit of despair. As an interpersonal cautionary tale it doesn't work because the film's attitude toward Michael is so vague. Had it been more clear about what we were supposed to make of his relationship with Lisa - is it a genuine spark of compatible souls meeting at the wrong time or is Michael just a myopic, misguided jerk with no idea of what he wants - then "Anomalisa" might have registered as something more, even if it were just an indictment of its protagonist. Alas, it ends up as a stew of potentially interesting ideas brought to life with amazing artistry that can't quite hide its hollow core.

At first I was appalled by this film...

[jananian-15509 · 8/10 · 22 March 2016]

I'm not a dedicated Kaufman fan, but I have enjoyed his other films. This movie has Kaufman all over it... dripping in his artist style. I gave it an 8 not because I liked it, but because I sat for 20 minutes pondering how much I thought Michael Stone, and perhaps Charlie Kaufman himself, is an utter a**wipe.

And after thinking about it, I realized that it is an artistic work. I appreciate art, even if it leaves a strange and bitter taste in my mouth. I think the average viewer will not like it, they will probably be cursing after and wondering why they spent their money to see it, or why they willed themselves to sit though it...or why they didn't leave sooner.

I get the film, and of all the bits that were super weird, the best part was Michael's breakdown when he was giving his speech. I love the reference to the corruption of the Bush administration, and I love how it brilliantly captured a moment I personally wish would happen; a person on stage breaking a barrier of civility and letting their frustration out. You know, expressing their loneliness and pain, albeit in a really awkward way.

I can imagine most female viewers to be pretty upset at the slightly manipulative aspect of Michael and Lisa's affair, it's what appalled me most. This film is told from a very male perspective, so I can understand why Michael acts the way he does. It really shows the fragility of some men, and the lows they go to. I don't know, is that normal to treat a woman like that?! I happen to have the utmost respect for women and find it very selfish of Michael to pursue Lisa. It seems out of his extreme loneliness he was able to focus on her and find something beautiful about her. Only to turn it around and distort it, making her into an ideological savior. He wakes up the next morning to realize she really isn't that different and unique as he thought...she is kind of just like the others. Conversely, through Lisa's loneliness she willingly and naively accepts Michael's actions as normal...and that scene at the end where she is happily writing that letter to him, WTF!? And then it makes me think, maybe Michael and Lisa really are meant for each other, and Michael was too scared to truly change his life.

But perhaps that's the point of this film, to be a little disgusted I mean. The entire qualification for a good work of art is to convey and transmit some sort of truth. Not all truths are beautiful and uplifting. This story is very true to many people's lives, especially of American life. Loneliness and that feeling that so many people are just replicas of a copy. Mindlessly living life...

Did I enjoy this film, no. Will I watch it again, perhaps not for another 10 years. Can I respect what it was aiming to achieve, yes.

Offers a real insight into the human soul

[tomgillespie2002 · 9/10 · 7 August 2016]

It's been 8 years since Charlie Kaufman's directorial debut, Synedoche, New York - that great but under-appreciated little film about a man (the late Philip Seymour Hoffman) who dreamed of building a scale model of New York in a warehouse. The critics seemed to like it but didn't voice their approval very loudly, and chances are many won't remember its existence. Funded by a Kickstarter campaign, Kaufman's latest is a stop-motion collaboration with Duke Johnson, an animator probably most famous for his Adult Swim works.

Beginning with mundane chatter in mundane locations, Anomalisa is in no rush to hit you with any visual splendour, which tends to be the norm for animated films. Instead, we follow our miserable protagonist Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a British motivational speaker whose book on customer service is the handbook for those unfortunate enough to be in the business, as he lands in Cincinnati. He grabs a cab ride with an annoying driver who seems to be completely unaware of Michael's depressed, frustrated state, and insists he visit the zoo and tries to Cincinnati's famous chilli. He arrives at his hotel, the Fregoli, where he is unnecessarily escorted to his room by an over-friendly bell boy who informs him of the delights of his standard, mediocre room.

It's probably at this point that you'll realise you haven't been imagining that all the characters look and sound alike, and instead that this is a deliberate tactic key to understanding the mindset of Michael and the themes of the film. The name of the hotel is a clue, as the Fregoli delusion is a condition that causes a person to imagine everyone else to be the same entity in disguise with the sole purpose of inflicting torment on the sufferer. Here, everyone has the face of an adult white male (even the women and children) and has been blessed with the soothing, distinctive voice of Tom Noonan. It is only when Michael stumbles upon two women in his hotel who are there to see his speech the following day that this spell is broken. One of the two women, Lisa, has a barely noticeable facial disfigurement and sounds like Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Michael is enamoured.

Michael's relationship with Lisa, who be dubs 'Anomalisa', gives the film a much-needed heart, as this may have otherwise been an exercise in misanthropy. There's no fantasy romance here, but a dinner date where everyone involved drinks too much, Michael's awkward invitation for Lisa to accompany him back to his room, and a sex scene which is, ironically, the most realistic I've ever seen on film. Michael accidentally rolls onto her hair, she bangs her head, he asks her the awkward question of whether she's cool with oral sex - there's certainly no pan to a roaring fireplace,

You would think that the heightened sense of realism would make the choice to film this in stop-motion slightly redundant, but oddly, it makes the film even more human. It also allows Kaufman and Johnson to show much more of life's ugliness - we are treated to Michael's middle-aged stark naked body jumping out of the shower and the sight of a random man across the way getting ready to masturbate in front of his computer. It's often difficult to sit through. I work in customer services myself and can empathise with Michael's internal struggle of feeling trapped within himself and that others are barely distinguishable from one another. Don't expect any tidy resolutions either, Kaufman is intelligent enough to realise that the excitement of meeting an interesting girl is only temporary, and life will still go on. It's upsetting, certainly, but Anomalisa offers a real insight into the human soul and makes a lasting impression.

Poignant, poetic, and heartfelt.

[shadowyx12 · 8/10 · 10 October 2015]

"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.

Irrational Man

[jadepietro · 7/10 · 19 March 2016]

(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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The attention to detail is amazing

[valleyjohn · 8/10 · 30 March 2016]

This is certainly one of the strangest animations I have ever seen and strange in a very good way. This is a Stop-Motion film about a man , Michael Stone , who while on a business trip , decides that his life is so dull and mundane that he needs to have a bit of fun whether it be with an ex girlfriend or an admirer of his work. The problem is Michael Stone doesn't do fun. He doesn't really know how to. In fact he's not a very nice man at all.

I loved this. The attention to detail is amazing. Not just the fascinating animation but the voices. Not until it starts to looks like he might have enjoyment do we hear a woman's voice. All other times it is voiced by the same man. That's the voices of women and children too and it highlights perfectly the rut he is stuck in. The sex scenes are very unnerving yet worryingly realistic . The film makers have got the facial expressions and even the tone of the voices perfectly and it's the little things that make this film so fascinating.

Recommended.

Charlie Kaufman's latest film is not as much of anomaly as its title suggests

[srf51293 · 7/10 · 14 January 2016]

Charlie Kaufman is almost surely on the Mt. Rushmore of full- throttled auteurism. Merely describing the plot of his newest film is enough to give you hint of the mind behind the work; a bizarre examination of the mind-numbingly ordinary.

Just as was the case with fellow auteur Wes Anderson in 2009, when he released the excellent Fantastic Mr. Fox, Kaufman seems to be entering the animation phase of his career. The result Anomalisa, a tale of a man who just doesn't feel right in the world he lives in and one who fights tooth and nail to resist falling into the banality that surrounds him. The man in this story is Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis) and we first catch up with him on a plane flying into Cincinnati. It is almost immediately evident that Michael is much like many of the other men we have met throughout Kaufman's filmography; middle-aged, despondent, lonesome and not all that attached to the life his has built for himself. Michael is a kind of self-help, customer service expert coming to Cincinnati to give a speech, yet seems unable to help himself whatsoever.

Kaufman accentuates Michael's existential loneliness by making every character we meet along Michael's trip from the airport to the hotel voiced by the same man, character actor and Kaufman favorite Tom Noonan. Throughout this mundane journey, which takes up much of the first third of the film, we follow Michael as he is forced to make — or rather do his best to not make — small talk with everyone from the oversharing Taxi driver to the polite bell hop.

It is here where one of the themes, intentional or not, of Kaufman's movies begins to rear its head. The main character, usually a male, is almost always this exact blend of relatability and dismissive callousness. Sure some of what the cab driver says is pointless and at times annoying, but Michael isn't exactly a charming and dynamic man himself, yet upon his high horse he sits.

This theme continues as Michael's world expands. From in his ordinary hotel room he makes a series of phone calls, first to his wife and son and then to his old girlfriend whom he left ten years earlier. Both conversations seem to compound rather than alleviate whatever troubles are boiling up within. Despite this he decides to meet up with his former girl in the hotel bar, a scene that goes pretty much how you'd expect, leaving Michael once again alone. It is not until he meets Lisa who is (Jennifer Jason Leigh) the first to cut through the noise and make a visceral impact on Michael's life. The two eventually share a passionate and awkwardly realistic night that promises to break our hero from his perpetual funk.

When I realized that every voice in Anomalisa was a single actor I had, well, one of these moments. I am a fan of Kaufman's work— from Synecdoche, NY to Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — but he often seems dead-set on walking that thin line between being skillfully clever and a bit arrogant. It wasn't until the moment that Michael and Lisa share the night in the hotel room that I realized the choice of voice actors fell firmly in the former. Lisa's voice represents literally what she means to Michael metaphorically; something new, something different, something to shake him to his core and remove whatever dark cloud has been clearly following him around for years. It is what makes her morning-after transformation, the slow blur of her voice into that of everyone else in this fictional world, all the more heartbreaking. It confirms that the world isn't boring and broken and full of trite copies, but it is Michael who is fractured beyond repair. It is his own outlook, which can no longer see anything unique or beautiful, that is the source for all his despair. On the surface this works. Kaufman once again shows how the inner workings of the mind are often quite different from reality, a worthy topic to be explored. The main issue that once again pervades the film, though, is that I feel like I should be sad for Michael when in reality I am not sure he deserves the beautiful and unique if he can't recognize it all around him. Throughout Anomalisa Michael continuously looks outward to solve his problems, whether it is his wife and son, his old girlfriend or finally, Lisa. He not only hopes they will help him, but seems to think they have a duty to do so. Almost like the fact that everyone is indistinguishable is their own fault rather than his own warped outlook.

Earlier I compared Kaufman to fellow filmmaker Wes Anderson but that comparison has very little to do with style. Where Anderson can take nearly any subject, from foxes to kids getting kicked out of school, and make them utterly delightful. Kaufman's goal, on the other hand, seems to be to take any subject and make you think and think and probably eventually get a little sad, a goal which, for better or worse, he scores with Anomalisa.

The Voice of a Songbird

[ferguson-6 · 8/10 · 1 January 2016]

Greetings again from the darkness. Seeing Charlie Kaufman's work described as "strange", "weird" or "bizarre" makes me cringe a little because most of his films hit my sweet spot of curiosity, insight and expression. I easily relate to his creative vision and commentary in films like Being John Malkovich, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche, New York. His characters are always searching for something and trying to discern the meaning of life … or at least of their own life. This latest has Kaufman adapting his own stage production, and collaborating with co-director Duke Johnson for what is likely (for the vast majority of us) our most startling existential stop-action animated puppet cinematic experience.

The unusual opening of the film is a black screen with only background noise and voices, and the first chuckle occurred within about a minute thanks to one of my favorite cultural references of the year: "Kojak, not Kolchak". Slowly the screen evolves to show clouds in the sky, and soon an airplane appears and our first peek at Michael occurs … he's a passenger on a flight. The vast majority of the rest of the film takes place inside the Fregoli Hotel – aptly named because Michael seems to suffer from a twist on Fregoli Delusion (a person believes those around him are all the same person in disguise).

We soon notice that Michael appears beaten down, even exasperated with life. He is an author in town to give a presentation on his specialty … Customer Service. The story continues along familiar lines of a business traveler in the midst of a mid-life crisis, until things change for him when he stumbles on a couple of his fans who are in town for his presentation. One of them is Lisa, whom Michael is attracted to thanks to her innocent energy and wonderful voice. What makes her voice so wonderful? Well, it turns out that Michael is voiced by British actor David Thewlis, Lisa is voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and EVERY other character in the film (male or female) is voiced by Tom Noonan. Lisa and her voice are the anomaly that makes up the film's title … Michael is smitten with her because her voice is not like all the others - providing a spark of hope.

Mr. Kaufman seems intent on making us realize how easily we can slip into a rut and simply go through the motions in life … every day and every person being pretty much like the rest. Michael has learned to wear his Customer Service mask – one who pretends to care about the issues of others. It's a terrific metaphor for someone refusing to face the responsibility for their own happiness. His awakening occurs at the hands (and in bed) with Lisa. Yes, you should be prepared for the uncommon and slightly unsettling site of Puppet Private Parts. The clumsy passion of the first encounter between Michael and Lisa does wonders for each of them … restoring her self-esteem and awakening him from his daily slumber of hopelessness.

While the story itself is quite simple, the use of puppets prevents us from getting overly personal or judgmental with the characters, and forces us to deal with the emotional and mental aspects of what keeps so many from leading happy lives. Lisa's acapella version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" ignites the fuse in Michael, and just like that, both he and Lisa are jolted from their own self-imposed limitations. No longer able to just go through the motions, Michael's overreactions at breakfast and during his presentation are all part of his re-awakening … the most profound puppet awakening since Pinocchio. Perhaps Mr. Kaufman thought we might be more receptive to his message and observations if delivered by a non-threatening puppet, and perhaps he's correct. The message is delivered loudly and clearly … though I will probably hear Tom Noonan's voice in my nightmares. The look of the movie and the puppets is fantastic, and Carter Burwell provides yet another spot-on score.

Brave & Depressing!

[namashi_1 · 7/10 · 3 January 2016]

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.

Who are you?

[gsygsy · 9/10 · 4 December 2015]

The latest of Charlie Kaufmann's demonstrations of the effect of point-of-view on story-telling, Anomalisa takes its place in that magnificent line of works beginning with Being John Malkovich, through Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and Synecdoche New York, all works of genius.

Taking its cue from a delusional condition, Kaufmann applies the point of view of a sufferer to an otherwise banal midlife crisis and comes up with a remarkable and completely unexpected way of presenting it to us.

Kaufmann is awesome.

As well as the terrific visuals, courtesy of co-director Duke Johnson and his team, there is yet another bullseye from composer Carter Burwell.

The pace of the movie is leisurely. The material feels unusually stretched for a Kaufmann script, which may be because it apparently started out as a 40 minute work. Really, though, it doesn't matter. I'd rather spend a little too long with Anomalisa than five minutes with several other films I could mention. This, after all, is an amazing piece of art.

Both alienates and mesmerises

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 16 October 2016]

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

One good metaphor does not stretch to 90 minutes

[mmaggiano · 4/10 · 7 January 2016]

This padded-out feature would have made a very good short. There are good scenes, and ideas worth considering, but absolutely not enough of them for a feature. The stop-motion and design are great, but it has problems on the story/art/intellect side because of stretching the run time past what the story/themes can bear.

Too many of the scenes (whether attempts at exploring the humdrum, or attempts at absurdist conflict) subtract more than they add to the whole. The main metaphor of a Fregoli delusion well-represents a kind of mid-life crisis, but it also loses quite a bit in flattening out the mid-life crisis into a general alienation (granted, with a mix of older existentialism issues, and newer ones such as 'personhood as illusory'). In a short film, this bare-bones metaphor would have enough of a poetic quality to work. But here, when the story is stretched out, we are constantly reminded of the lack of particulars. And at some point, not telling us more about the main character and his problems is just coy or frigid on Kaufman's part.

I should note that I have no problem with the main character being unsympathetic, nor the attempt at exploring the humdrum side of life in many scenes, nor the film's plot/conclusions being flat/troubling/puzzling, nor scenes that aren't always "entertaining". But those scenes have to do something besides show you that dull dialogue imitates dull talk in life. And if Kaufman was interested in tone/lyricism, theme, and irony OVER human particulars (and therefore other things that art can do), he was obliged to take careful, un-self-indulgent account of what the story could sustain. For the second film in a row, he hasn't.

I see why, on the the business side, this CAN'T be a $3M short when you can make a $10M feature instead. But this has no bearing on whether the feature has problems. And I understand why a lack of human particulars is fitting for puppets (and how from an ironic, existentialist and behaviorist point-of-view, we might be more puppets than we care to admit), but a few modern ideas don't automatically make 90 minutes worth of story.

Would have been a great short film

[Dee-Tay0909 · 7 November 2015]

I am a huge Charlie Kaufman fan, and was very excited to get the chance to see this film at the Denver Film Festival this week. However, this film was extremely disappointing. The plot was quite boring and the film really just seemed to be a character study of loneliness and mental health deterioration. It would have made a great short film, but it was entirely too long for such a low-quality plot. The ending left me extremely unsatisfied.

However, I did enjoy the animation, sound, and other technical aspects of the film. But I'd have to rate this 5 stars and place it next to down there next to Schenectady, New York as one of my least favorite Charlie Kaufman films. Apparently I prefer films he writes but does not direct. I'm ready for another Spike Jonze collaboration!

Technically impressive and incredibly humane

[ronakkotian · 8/10 · 27 September 2020]

Charlie Kaufman has always put together fantastic and thought-provoking movies so I naturally get excited before I'm about to watch one. Anomalisa is another fantastic addition to his body of work.

Anomalisa follows Michael, who is tired of the mundanity in his life but soon experiences something special after meeting a woman named Lisa.

Apart from Human Nature and Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, I have seen every Kaufman film and loved every single one of them. Anomalisa is yet another film where Kaufman studies the human psyche and it's one of the best looking animated films I've seen. Since Kaufman doesn't have experience with stop motion, Duke Johnson came to help and the stop motion animation is visually striking. Despite being small in scale, the world of Anomalisa feels incredibly real. There are some impressive long takes where we follow characters into different rooms. Considering the challenges of stop motion, doing a long take is incredibly difficult so I have to praise the hard work put in by the animators because on a technical level this film is phenomenal.

This film isn't just style over substance because Charlie Kaufman adds so much depth and purpose to the characters and scenarios. This is a film that is sure to resonate with a lot of people. As of right now, I cannot relate to it as much but a few years down the line I may really connect with its themes. I love how interpretive Anomalisa is. It's not just a film you forget after finishing it. I still find myself thinking about the ending and other details. The voice acting is really good. David Thewlis does a terrific job as Michael and Jennifer Jason Leigh is absolutely fantastic as Lisa.

Anomalisa is another fantastic Kaufman film that's not only technically impressive but also humane and relatable. It's sad to see a talented writer like him struggle to fund his movies. I really hope he continues to write and direct more films as there is no writer like Charlie Kaufman.

'Anomalisa' is the classic Kaufman we all Love!

[ClaytonDavis · 10/10 · 11 November 2015]

There comes a moment in "Anomalisa," from co-directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, where you stop fighting the need to try to understand the weird yet invigorating story structure, and surrender to all the quirks, charm, and emotional tension its displaying on screen. Hypnotizing in the words ad expressions of its stop-motion characters, Kaufman's screenplay is right up there with his top-tier works of "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and "Being John Malkovich." If anything, it's as if Kaufman merged his brilliant writing style with the works of Wes Anderson and Spike Jonze, delivering a newly interpreted work that shows itself as one of the year's gargantuan masterpieces in writing. The less you know, the better. Watching the recent trailer that dropped for the film did it no favors as it presented itself as the animated version of "Lost in Translation" when its anything but. Simply put, it focuses on a man named Michael Stone, who has made a career about stressing the importance of customer service. When he takes a one day trip to Cincinnati, he begins to focus on the mundanity of his life. I've banged this drum too often, with some help from notable critics and viewers, but voice work has to be looked upon as a genuine performance, and you'll find just another example of it with the outstanding works of David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tom Noonan. Thewlis' Michael Stone is intricate and calculated with a real sense of disparity and hopelessness. He envelops the essence of a lost man, attempting to regain normality in a world where everything is far too familiar and similar. Jennifer Jason Leigh captures the essence of innocence and perplexity, as her Lisa tries to make sense of a situation that can either be interpreted as fate or coincidence. Visibly broken, and aching to be put back together, Leigh enriches the morose yet intriguing nature of the film with zeal. It's one of her best performances and one you can look back upon as another staggering performance from a voice-actor. Tom Noonan where's so many hats in "Anomalisa," a chameleon transcending the inner workings of a broken man. It's a breathtaking performance, one not obvious at first, but eventually opens up in the most awkward but satisfying manner. When walking into Kaufman and Johnson's world, one of the first questions you have to ask is why stop motion? Does this have the opportunity to be interpreted in different mediums that could be more satisfying and accessible for the viewer? It's a perfect marriage of narrative structure and story. As an adult animation drama, you can see the freakish elements of films like "Fantastic Mr. Fox" but it is in no way for children. This speaks to the minds of adults. If you have ever struggled with depression, or have been stuck in the abnormality of a current state of living, the film may hit some very real chords with you. "Anomalisa" is an astounding achievement on every level. Exquisite and ravishing animation is on full display, using divine, subtle tones of color to capture the mood of a world all too distant but so uncomfortably close. It's single-handedly one of the best films that 2015 has to offer. Don't deny yourself this experience.

An interesting effort

[gfsheppard · 7/10 · 14 July 2016]

I watched this movie in two sittings. My wife couldn't handle it after 30 minutes: too boring; not enough feedback; confusing. So I watched the last half of the movie the next day. The animation allows one voice for everyone other than the main character and his most recent love interest. The faces are also the same for everyone else, and it is a reflection of the boredom that Michael Stone must be feeling about every interaction that he has. There is also the subtle transition as he becomes bored with Lisa, and then leaves her, just like he has left others before. I liked that his son did not have a generic face- it shows that there is still some semblance of life and interest behind his mask. Otherwise the mundaneness of his existence is palpable in his interactions with everyone.

The problem is the boredom Michael experiences is also felt by the viewer. The movie is too successful in creating a sense of interpersonal apathy, and almost a sense of despondency. Hard to catch a viewer in an entertaining past time when you are trying (succeeding) to be as boring as possible.

The movie succeeds in what it is attempting to do, but it takes a great deal of effort and staying power to get through the subtle transitions presented without having the interest bored out of you.

Go watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind instead.

Kaufman Delivers on his First Stop-Motion Project

[mmendez-22089 · 10/10 · 22 October 2015]

First Viewing:

Well, Kids, it has finally happened. Watching Charlie Kaufman's ANOMALISA was like being at Disney World for the first time. THE HOUR AND THIRTY-MINUTES went by so fast for me from how much fun I was having. AND HE DELIVERED! as usual. If you are one who is thinking that 'maybe after being out of the spotlight for six years', that maybe Kaufman had lost his touch, NO. not in the slightest.

This alluring and poetic stop-motion picture takes place in one of the most undervalued cities of the world; Cincinnati. Which is famous for its "zoo's" and "chili" supposedly. Michael Stone, played by the very gifted David Thewlis, is an award-winning author for a business-ethics book that is highly praised by all. Literally.. you will HEAR background voices whispering about. saying, "look, it's Michael Stone." Unfortunately, he is not too proud to be who he is.

Masks. (beat) We all wear them. But how far do we go to hide who we truly are in the norm of the world? — *A WORLD WHERE EVERYONES VOICES SOUND THE SAME.* — Michael feels as if he is living a lie. He is trapped! But it doesn't stop there. In my opinion, he is not one who gives-up easily. **ONE NIGHT, as he checks into an average hotel suite, he begins drinking; thinking about an old lover, Belle, INSTEAD of his wife and (firefighting) son at home.

Things begin to shift gears when a quasi-surreal occurrence happens after a nice warm shower in the hotel room. You see, the faces for these puppets that Kaufman and Johnson use have a very unique look that most "clay-nation-ers" choose to omit out. That is, the lines on the face where the animators can change their facial expressions; usually, these lines are covered up.

**One element that I want to first go into was THE SOUND. Now, I am no expert with sound department, but viewing this in the theater with the rumbles and echoes, it was like a dream.

This was a PERFECT FILM. I do not deny saying it. Part of my critique was based off my love for screenwriter Charlie Kaufman, but I am beyond that. If this was a bad film, I would say so, but for this brilliant storyteller, it is simply impassible. His poetically charged dialogue saves all and It is the main reason why I love the piece of shite. If it weren't for these passionate, lost characters trying to find themselves, I would not know where I am right now.

Thank you Mr. Charlie Kaufman

Incredible Stop-Motion work, but a very overrated film

[stephendaxter · 6/10 · 3 January 2016]

Whether a film is overrated or not is very, very subjective. 'Overrated' is a very strong word and should not be thrown around lightly when trying to describe a film as it will tend to lose its meaning. That being said, this movie is by far the definition of an overrated film, to me. 'Anomalisa' is a Stop-Motion Drama that highlights a day in the troubled life of Michael Stone where something out of the ordinary happens and he explores a relationship with a woman named Lisa. This is an incredibly small film and not many people would have heard of it. But once i did hear of it, seeing all of the incredible reviews it was getting and the 5/5's on the poster made me very intrigued as to what all the fuss was about. And as it turns out, i didn't think this movie was anything more than average, and far from the 'Masterpiece' it is being labeled as. A masterpiece of stop-motion technology? Definitely. But a Masterpiece film it is not.

What this film did incredibly well was it managed to capture human emotions, movements and performances so perfectly that you completely forget you are watching an animation. The way Director Charlie Kaufman brings these figures to life is amazing to see, and the performances he gets out of them are better than what you get from real people. This also brought life to the characters of Michael and Lisa and really allowed you to see them as real people with real distinct personalities. Michael is one of the more realistic and grounded human characters of 2015, he is clearly conflicted and has many flaws but none of them are hidden in favour of the story. I cannot stress enough how much he seems like a real person, that aspect of the film, the character creation, development, and exploration is like nothing i have ever seen in a stop-motion film, so i will give credit where credit is due. But other than that the film didn't have anything to offer.

The storytelling was rather dull, depressing and only had a few moments where it was kinda engaging. When i say 'story' i am really talking about Michael's journey to Cincinnati and the relationship between Michael and Lisa that ensues. It is rather light on story as it is focusing on the characters more, but with the overall tone and the events that occur it does get to some fairly dark and depressing levels that were hard to get into. It takes some kinda interesting turns occasionally and most definitely was not predictable but for the rest of the film i was left wanting more than just impressive Stop-Motion. The film begins and you start asking questions, then it keeps going and you start asking more and more questions whilst only receiving a few ambiguous answers. The reason why i feel this film is going to generate a lot of differing opinions is that it does require quite a bit of thinking on behalf of the viewer to come to a conclusion to what it all means. This is very evident from the directors choice to have David Thewlis voice Michael, Jennifer Jason Leigh voice Lisa, and Tom Noonan voice literally "everyone else". It is definitely an artistic choice and not one based on laziness or budget issues, but it will raise a lot of questions with some people, and just bore others.

So in the end this was an overall disappointing and very overrated film that still had what may be the best use of stop-motion animation i have ever seen. It takes someone with a love for the artistic side of films to really get anything at all out of it, as to any casual movie-goer it will probably come across as a boring mess which is completely understandable. Watch it if you want, form your own opinion, i just hope it doesn't make an impact at the Oscars. - 5.8/10

Great character study movie

[851222 · 9/10 · 23 August 2016]

Greetings from Lithuania.

"Anomalisa" (2015) is a very intimate, sometimes confusing but always interesting to watch character study movie - and it's surely not for everyone. Directed and written by the brilliant Charlie Kaufman ("Being John Malkovich"; "Adaptation." "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") it is almost on the same league as the three great movies i'm just mentioned. When i was watching "Anomalisa" not for a second i thought i was watching an animated movie - it was so real and plausible that it would work out as an motion picture. This is not an animated movies for children, don't even bother with that. This is a great examination of life itself trough the eyes of a man, who at that moment of his life doesn't even see a difference in people anymore, they all looks and sound the same trough his eyes (and our as well), until... Anomalisa happens.

Overall, "Anomalisa" isn't for everyone, but i loved this movie simply to ... watch after my hard day of work. It shows so many things right, so many things we've seen in our lives. It isn't a mainstream entertainment, it is a great character (which we all see in our self's at least partly) study movie.

If you can make it through the first half, there's some interesting stuff

[cherold · 6/10 · 30 August 2016]

I love the writer Charlie Kaufman, but I'm not as enamored of the director Charlie Kaufman, who indulges his worst tendencies in a way others won't.

Anomalisa starts very slowly, as middle-aged Michael comes into Cincinnati to give a lecture. The movie has a great love for the mundane, so we get a taxi driver giving advice, we get Michael's checking in and ordering dinner, we get an uncomfortable dinner with an ex.

The only notable thing in the early part of this animated drama is that everyone Michael meets is voiced by one actor, both men and women. Only Michael has a unique voice. Then he meets a young, insecure woman who also has a unique voice (wonderfully done by Jennifer Jason Leigh), and this leads to bland conversation and a rather long sex scene.

After all that, I was bored and restless, but then the movie picks up, offering a fascinating scene in the hotel basement after which the movie is weird, funny, sad, and brutally honest.

In both Anomalisa and Synecdoche, Kaufman proves he's comfortable with boring people before getting around to giving Kaufman's fans what they have come to expect from him through movies like BJM and Adaptation. This movie is a slight step up from Synecdoche, but it's still disappointing, although perhaps worth watching anyway.

For anyone who feels empty inside...

[CJ_Thorpe · 10/10 · 2 September 2017]

Suitably nihilistic for Kaufman but with a much more straightforward presentation than his other films and therefore more accessible to a more casual audience.

Tha animation is some of the best I have ever witnessed.

Its a story of loneliness, despite being surrounded by people, and personal depression which will resonate with anyone who has ever felt an emptiness inside them.

Existential cartoon with dazzling animation leaves a lingering feeling of deja vu

[greenmemo · 6/10 · 1 January 2016]

I had a feeling of deja vu as I was watching Anomalisa, then I remembered seeing the almost universally reviled Neil La Bute film "Dirty Weekend", which I saw not in its entirety but enough to recognize one too many coincidences. Middle aged man on a business trip?: check; chat with an intrusive cab driver?: check; recommendation from the aforementioned cab driver of a toy store that turns out to be a sex toy store: check; interaction with a much younger female character?: check. Probably Neil La Bute thought an explicit sex scene would be too creepy given the age difference, restraint that Kaufman did not have (these are just toons, aren't they?) Well, I still feel that I need to re-watch Anomalisa, even though I think the philosophical wrap up came a little too late into the movie which is burdened by a lot of flat dialogue. I can easily see someone getting sued over copyright infringement here. Or maybe it's that we all live inside of Philip Kaufman's head and Dirty Weekend and Anomalisa are the same movie because Being John Malcovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are the only unique ones.

Puzzled by The Acclaim

[stewart-62 · 5/10 · 21 March 2016]

This is a small film – by which I mean it's not a great one. This is, of course, in contrast to all the critical praise which has been heaped on it. The word "masterpiece" has featured in many reviews, but I can't agree. I'd stress that I'm a huge Charlie Kaufman fan and my anticipation on going to see the film was equally as big as my disappointment after I'd done so. So what's the problem? I think it's the smallness of the story;yes it's about alienation,yes it's clever, yes the sex scene is achingly real and uncomfortable, but this movie has only a few points to make – mostly about alienation and the "otherness" of people – and while it makes them well, they don't amount to a decent movie. Thinking about it afterwards – and puzzled by the praise it has received and disconcerted by my own disappointment – I realised that if this movie has been made with human actors it simply wouldn't get the same sort of critical acclaim, in fact, it would be deemed dull, dull, dull. The thing which lifts it out of the ordinary – but not into the extraordinary – is the fact that it's told via animation. I urge anyone who loves the movie to try and imagine sitting through the same script acted by real people – it would be achingly boring.

Anomalisa: A Mona Lisa

[newnoir · 1 January 2016]

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.