Post by SnoBorderZero on Jan 30, 2016 18:27:27 GMT -5
Anomalisa
Charlie Kaufman is one of the few screenwriters that has been dubbed an auteur, modeling this notion after the much debated and disputed theory of analyzing directors based on their unique contributions to the medium. Kaufman's elaborately original, witty, and at times absurd works have been widely celebrated since he became a household name after penning Being John Malkovich in 1999. In 2008, Kaufman made the jump to the director's chair with Synecdoche, New York and after 7 years of crowd funding he has returned with another impressive and original work with Anomalisa.
Anomalisa centers on Michael Stone (David Thewlis), a successful author and motivational speaker in the customer service industry that has flown into Cincinnati to deliver a speech at a conference. After a failed attempt at reigniting an old fling, Michael meets Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) who he believes can pull him out of this mundane, unhappy cycle that he has been in for years. The rest of the characters are all voiced by one person (Tom Noonan) which worked to be both hilarious and also very poignant in portraying the psychological state that Michael dwells in. He sees all other people and the social interactions that come with them to be dull, forced, and at times inescapable. You can think of the scene in Being John Malkovich where everyone at the restaurant is John Malkovich and that's sort of how the movie operates. Michael wades his way through the monotonous conversations that we hate to engage in with strangers; talks about the weather, tourist attractions in cities, the aspects of a typical hotel room. I found myself cracking up at how much fun Kaufman pokes at this, and how everyone working at the hotel is so neat and orderly in their dull talk that Michael is forced to drudge through.
I can't get too into the story because it's not a very long movie and I don't want to give elements away, but it's really amazing how, dare I say, human the whole thing feels. The decision to animate this film certainly creates an intriguing aesthetic into the film, but it also makes it more interesting overall considering the film is essentially 90 minutes of pure dialogue that I don't feel would've been as effective non-animated being executed more like a play like a Kaufman version of Richard Linklater's Tape or similar films. You almost forget it's even a bunch of puppets on screen because of how natural the dialogue and movements of the characters are. None of the dialogue or situations feel contrived, and for a Kaufman film the characters feel more scaled back from some of his usual oddballs that left me highly impressed. Michael sees a break from the typical in shy, unconfident Lisa, and their scene in his hotel room is one of the more genuine you'll find in an animated feature. Though the film plays out in more standard fashion from Kaufman's previous works, Michael is not well in the head, which leads to a Kaufman-like (I know I keep referring to his previous work) dream sequence that's very reminiscent of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich. We know that Michael is depressed and psychologically fractured, but this dream sequence delves into the extent of this in hilarious Kaufman fashion.
The animation itself is excellent. I haven't seen puppetry work done quite like this before, and anyone attempting comparisons to Team America: World Police will find that to be entirely not the case. Their movements are very natural without any jitter and the details in their faces, such as the dark circles under Michael's eyes in close-ups, makes you almost forget that this is an animated film at times. A lot of time and detail went into the work done on these, and it certainly shows. Even the sex scene, which I thought would come off as ridiculous, was surprisingly well executed and not in the least bit cheap or silly looking. Other than, you know, the fact that it's a sex scene with puppets. But you'll see what I mean. It's hilarious because aside from Michael and Lisa, all of the other puppets/characters not only talk the same but essentially look the same. This is another obvious advantage to animating the film to extend its thematic ideas of loneliness and conformity that works really well. In a world where 95% of animated films are done so through computer generated images, the work done in Anomalisa is something to behold.
Anomalisa isn't an easy viewing despite the animated appeal and short running time. Michael is a character that wallows in misery for most of the film, and really only attempts to connect with others for his own selfish needs. Michael is in desperate need of a cure, but he really has no idea what the remedy for his problems even is. Despite a lot of humor and touching moments in the film, this a very dark film that centers around unhappy characters. It's not as zany as Being John Malkovich or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and it's not as reassuring as Adaptation. In this film, Kaufman is interested in exploring people at their lowest points and what measures they go to in order to self-cure. I can't get into much more than that without ruining the film, but there's certainly a lot of meat on this film even if it might not seem like it at first. Anyone who's been impressed by Kaufman's work in the past or is looking for a completely different cinematic viewing experience should check out Anomalisa.
8/10
