Anomalisa poster image of character Michael Stone
ANOMALISA
(2015)
Rating:
4 out of 5
Comedy,
Drama
Directed
by: Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman
Screenplay:
Charlie Kaufman, (based on his Play “Anomalisa”)
Cast:
David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Oscar
Nomination: Best Animated Feature Film
When
I approached my car to begin my drive over to the Enzian Theater to
see Anomalisa,
I found that my gold Camry was speckled with the tinge of white bird
poop. But I wasn't going to let this unforeseen act of nature keep
me from seeing this film. And after I saw Anomalisa
and finally had time to scrape the mess off my car, I felt it seamed
to fit the tone of the movie in an odd way. This story dramatizes
the bland routine of everyday life and yet it is engaging and unlike
anything you have seen before. Funny scenes like watching a
character have to field a bunch of questions just to order hotel room
service or having to try his key card several times because the door
is faulty are made more interesting because of the animation
technique used to produce the film. The Starburns Industries team made 3-D printed heads
for each puppet character, then constructed small sets to make up
their world and posed them frame by frame to simulate movement. This
tedious process is called stop-motion animation. It took the
production two years to complete the animation and all of the detail
in the final film is proof of their craft and dedication. The
practical lighting they created for these miniature sets created a
breathtaking sense of depth and realism. Even the fact that these
characters had plastic heads went into telling the story when it
takes a surprising turn.
Anomalisa
is not just eye candy, it tells the story of Michael Stone, a highly
successful customer service guru who is in town for a book tour after
he wrote the definitive book on the subject. Ironically, in his
personal life Michael feels isolated from the rest of humanity, he is
anti-social, that is until he falls for Lisa who is a beautiful yet
shy fan of his writing. Some elements of Anomalisa
are unusual, but that should come as no surprise since it was
Co-Directed and Written by Charlie Kaufman, the creative mind behind
Being John Malkovich
and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Take the cast for example, David Thewlis is the voice of the lead,
Jennifer Jason Leigh as Lisa, the love interest who ends up driving
the story forward and of course inspires the film's title. Then
there is actor Tom Noonan who is credited as playing the voice of
“Everyone else.” This is including Michael's Ex-Girlfriend, who
is generous enough to visit him at the hotel bar after he left her
without cause or consultation. Yes,
hearing a male voice for a female character is off putting, but it
must not be misunderstood as laziness. It reminded me of Steven Soderbergh's 1996 film Schizopolis
which featured a character playing a wife in a troubled marriage who
inexplicably starts arguing with her husband in totally different
languages from one scene to another. This unique choice speaks about
the divide between this couple. Having a man voice all the female
characters except Lisa in Anomalisa
supports the theme of the movie in a similar way. This is bold
storytelling to say the least. I also have to mention the sex scene
in this movie that is so natural and honest that it plays as comedy. Even though it is two puppets having sex, it is nothing like the
crude sex scene in Team America: World Police.
It is interesting to know that Anomalisa
was partially crowd funded. The filmmakers launched the project on
Kickstarter with a $200,000 goal, which raised $406,237 from 5,770
backers. This becomes clear when these backers are listed in the end
credits, the columns of names stretched on and on like a four lane
highway. The only thing that keeps this movie from a five star
review is the ending. For me several scenes before the ending had
more of a climactic feel and relevance to the theme than the final
minutes of the movie did. That being said I still highly recommend
Anomalisa
for its originality and this is a movie written by Charlie Kaufman
after all, so I'll have to watch it again to see if I missed
something.
Display at Enzian Theater. Photo by Curt Wiser
- Curt Wiser is a writer who thinks Bio's should be brief.
