Review: ANOMALISA

Charlie Kaufman -- the man who has nailed the art of taking really simple sci fi premises, and drawing human nature and relationships from their cores. His films are always bizarre, yet so human; and ANOMALISA, his latest endeavour through 3D-printed stop-motion animation, is no different.

Co-directed by Kaufman and Duke Johnson, ANOMALISA thrusts you into the world of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a self-help author on a speaking tour across the country, which separates him from his wife and son. You know someone like Michael: the quiet loner-type, the romanticist who longs for something more, and can't be bothered with anything less -- the kind of guy searching for something or someone more engaging, but nothing, and no one, stands out.

But for Michael, this sentiment is a little bit more literal. No one stands out in the crowd because everyone has the same face, and everyone has the same voice (Tom Noonan's, regardless of the character's gender); it is as if Michael has a bad case of prosopagnosia, but the face blindness trickles into his ability to recognize people's voices, as well. To Michael, the people who swarm around him on a daily basis are indistinguishable.

Except for Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh). Lisa, the insecure woman he meets at a hotel in Cincinnati, is different. She is an anomaly, and Michael must pursue her.

This is a fascinating film engendering romanticism at its worst. As usual, the characters that Kaufman puts on screen are almost a little too relatable; and the mind-bogglingly realistic animation adds to that feeling of discomfort when these characters do hit so close to home.

Thewlis makes it difficult not to like our protagonist, and Leigh brightens the screen with the charming intimacy she brings to Lisa. It is fair to say that this movie will not be what some people expected; but it leaves an imprint, long after you leave the movie theater. ANOMALISA is now playing at the Midtown Cinema!