Anomalisa (2015)

Anomalisa (R)

"He who would pun would pick a pocket"

A married foreign-born writer on a speaking tour of the US for his new book finds himself falling in love with a complete stranger who's main appeal is that she sounds like no one else.  Her name is Lisa and she is an anomaly, and they also happen to be stop-motion puppets in director Charlie Kaufman's adaptation of his own three person play, Anomolisa.

Kaufman's work often comes down to the nerve wracking realities of relationships.  With Anomalisa, taking it from the starkness of a play to a film, Kaufman chose (brilliantly) to use stop-motion animation which is counter-intuitive medium for a film about adult situations.  Meanwhile character actor David Thewlis (The Big Lebowski) brings Micheal's desperation for love to poignant life, he fills the role with pudgy exasperation.  His counter part Lisa meanwhile is played against type by Jennifer Jason Leigh, and she is a bubbling self depreciating mess with a heart of gold.

Our time in Anomalisa is short, and at first we are bewildered, then scandalized, then reproachful, perhaps even a bit traumatized.  By the film's end all the cards are laid onto the table and our own personal judgments are set, but much like tarot what we see in those cards is entirely subjective.  And for these all too real relationships and bad choices and desperate people, to be just puppets on film with their dialog dubbed is itself a spectacular statement on our lives, and justifies the lengths the filmmaker's went to make it this way.  Anomalisa is as real a statement on our romantic entanglements as any film made in decades.  It is equal parts frenetic passion and loathing nightmare, perfectly embodied by these complex dolls who live a life filmed at a just few frames an day under their masters hand.  The high artistry of the animation, it's complexity and characterized-humanity, mirror perfectly the script's ability to autopsy these characters to their earthen cores.  Don't be surprised if you find yourself thinking and feeling about this film for years to come.  Do be surprised if you feel your face shift just so.

9 Fregoli References out of 10 (OUTSTANDING)