True to classic Charlie Kaufman form, everything about the writer/co-director’s latest film, Anomalisa, is wholly unconventional from conception to execution, yet is entirely accessible to anyone who’s felt hopelessly disconnected from other people. It’s a film full of contradictions; it’s a stop-motion animated film with a hard-R rating about isolation and identity, but it’s funny. It has an intelligent, successful protagonist with a tragic mental disorder, but he’s the worst person in the movie. Its style is highly immersive, yet it proudly displays the rough edges in its animation technique. It has many speaking characters with wildly diverging personalities, but only three voice actors.
Kaufman’s modus operandi since his earliest days—from being a sitcom writer for “Get a Life” and “Ned and Stacey” to one of Hollywood’s most cherished scribes with Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind—has been to either utilize well-trod storytelling tropes in order to subvert them, or to be boldly experimental in form while highly relatable in tone.
This is exactly what he does with Anomalisa, co-directed by him and in-demand stop- animation animator Duke Johnson, and based on Kaufman’s own 2005 “sound play.”
We follow two days in the life of customer service guru Michael Stone (David Thewlis) as he prepares to speak at a convention in Cincinnati. Within minutes, something odd is very obvious to the audience, though it initially goes unexplained: Every other person other than Michael, regardless of age, race or gender, has the same face and voice (Tom Noonan). This is true of both complete strangers and people he knows intimately, including his wife and child.
After what appears to be a lifetime of malaise caused by his condition, he encounters Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a shy, insecure woman who is a fan of Michael’s book. Yet despite her insecurity and mousy demeanor, there is one thing that makes her irresistible to Michael: She has a face and a voice totally unique to her.
Like the best of Kaufman’s work, the film crackles with confidence in its story and the skill employed in telling it. Michael stays in the Fregoli Hotel, named for the rare Fregoli delusion in which an individual believes that multiple people are in fact a single person in disguise, and the deteriorating effect this condition has on our protagonist is palpable.
The film really comes alive in its more surreal moments, including several times when Michael loses complete control of his face, even seeing it fall off of his head, revealing the inside of the model used for the animation. From the charm of fictionalized Cincinnati, to the philosophical and psychological questions at its core, to the sheer dedication shown by Kaufman, Johnson and Noonan, Anomalisa earns its Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Film in spades.
That said, this adaptation of Anomalisa was originally conceived as a 40-minute short and subsequently expanded to 90 minutes, and despite its bravery and intelligence, it does at times feel like an idea that’s been stretched out. Too many scenes drag on after the emotional or narrative point has been made, detracting from the immersion. And fascinating though his condition may be, Michael as a character is simply not interesting enough to justify lengthening the story beyond what was originally conceived.
Even with this notable drawback, Anomalisa is a massive success as a thought experiment with daring technique, and we should encourage such adventurousness from our storytellers with our dollars.
Playing this week
Regal Stonefield 14 and IMAX
The Shops at Stonefield, 244-3213
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Violet Crown Cinema
200 W. Main St., Downtown Mall, 529-3000
Anomalisa
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