Paramount Pictures
Charlie Kaufman is known for writing odd movies that contain metaphors for big, heady topics. His first movie, Being John Malkovich, explored identity and sexuality wrapped around the veneer of normality. It was a fantastic, bizarre movie. Adaptation didn’t work for everyone, but I loved its take on metafiction and the relationship between art and artist. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind brought optimism and pessimism to love and memory, with fantastic performances from Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet. As for Synchedoche, New York. — well, I haven’t seen it it.
In 2012, Charlie Kaufman launched a Kickstarter to help raise money for a new project based on a stage play he had written, managing to get over $400,000, twice his asking amount. With that, he was able to raise enough funds to get the movie made full length and with a real indie budget of $8 million. The studio that produced it, the oddball Starburns Industries, previously had done stop motion animation for the Adult Swim show Morel Orel and the animated Christmas episode of Community. But that was claymation. This is something else.
Anomalisa is a stop motion animated movie, but the human figures are just beautiful to look at. The quality is some of the best stop motion I’ve ever seen; only Coraline and The Nightmare Before Christmas come close. The movie tells the story of Michael Stone (voice of David Thewlis), who is the successful author of self-help books and is heading to Cincinnati to promote his new book at a conference for customer service professionals. But quickly you begin to notice something … off.
Other than Michael, everyone has very similar features and similar voices. Until suddenly it hits you: they are the same voice. That’s right, because everyone else Michael hears has the same voice (a fantastic Tom Noonan), although naturally variances are there, like in pitch for men versus women. Though successful, Michael is depressed and unhappy with his life. Desperate for someone that doesn’t look and sound the same, he even reaches out to an old girlfriend in Cincinnati with disastrous results.
But then Michael hears a voice, one different from anyone else’s. It turns out it’s a young woman named Lisa (voice of Jennifer Jason Leigh), who is a bit overweight and very shy. But Michael can’t stop thinking about her because she’s unique. I don’t want to say exactly what happens next, but the movie does have the best puppet sex scene since Team America: World Police.
When I was watching the movie, I didn’t pick up on the metaphor permeating everything, wondering if it was just a horror movie reminiscent of an old Twilight Zone episode. With Charlie Kaufman, you never know. But I figured it out because the movie makes it clear just as it ends. So I probably shouldn’t say too much. I will say that I loved what the movie had to say about attraction and idealism. Michael has this idea about who he is looking for, but nearly everything disappoints him.
I think most people will pick up on what Kaufman is saying, and the way he uses the puppets is very clever. You just couldn’t do this live action the same way. I’m thinking of one amazing nightmarish sequence in particular, but really the whole conceit relies on animation to have everyone looking and sounding the same.
Speaking of which, the acting here is voice acting, but don’t let that fool you. It’s phenomenal. There’s a reason this movie was nominated (just on Thursday) for an Oscar. {Editor’s note: It was also nominated for a Golden Globe.] David Thewlis is so good as the despondent, vaguely unsettling Michael, making you relate to him as the sole person around until you wonder if you should be at all. Jennifer Jason Leigh is great too as Lisa, soon to be dubbed “Anomalisa” for her anomalous voice, pouring all that insecurity into her voice. Naturally Tom Noonan is just so damn good here, having to give voice to dozens of characters. He was just great.
This was a tough decision for my top animated film of this year, because Inside Out was also really amazing. Both told fascinating stories in new and innovative ways, but I think Inside Out just barely inches it out for me. But Anomalisa is a close number two.
This isn’t a movie for everyone, but I heartily recommend it to anyone that liked Kaufman’s previous works. You won’t be disappointed.
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