Anomalisa

Anomalisa has more heart, soul and pathos than 99.9 per cent of live-action movies. The best hotel-set love story since "Lost In Translation."

Whatever combination of practical effects and digital wizardry went into the technique that gave rise to Anomalisa’s otherworldly yet very human narrative universe, I hope it will be used to tell more stories, perhaps by this same storyteller.

It’s both soaringly romantic and truly sad.

A disorienting puzzle of a movie with many exhilarating pieces, Anomalisa nevertheless maintains a straightforward trajectory involving Michael's internal strife.

Kaufman and fellow director Duke Johnson strike the right balance here, deftly mixing spiritual crisis and despondency with moments of painful awkwardness and biting hilarity.

An artsy display put on by Kaufman and fellow co-director Duke Johnson that raises the level of the genre, though it sometimes tries to enjoy its individual oddity too much chronicling one night in a bored businessman’s life.

Alternately daring and dull, inventively animated, intimate and yet impersonal, it’s challenging enough to turn off most.

As strange as Charlie Kaufman’s stories may be they are rooted in actual psychological conditions or perceptions of life. It’s when considering this that it’s hard to ignore just how deep he looks into the abyss and explores philosophical ideas. Anomalisa is yet another example of this. In truth, his films make a lot more sense if you have prior knowledge on the psychological explorations that he’s intent on. In this case, Kaufman takes a condition known as the “Fregoli delusion” (notice the name of the hotel in the film), a genuine condition in which an individual believes those around them are all the same person and are actually only in disguise. Needless to say, the paranoia and uncertainty with such a condition would be immense but that’s exactly what drives this the masterfully accomplished work. It challenges perspective and the decision to make it stop-motion animation is an absolute masterstroke. Not only is it precisely detailed but it manages to combine both realism and surrealism in its artistry which is a wonderful tool in exploring the unravelling of our protagonist’s psyche. Patience is certainly required throughout the film as it takes things very leisurely and requires a mature audience to capture its themes and intentions. However, if you surrender to Kaufman’s intricate majesty, it’s a thoroughly rewarding work and a shining example of the overlooked medium of stop-motion animation where Kaufman’s co-director, Duke Johnson, also deserves high praise.

debatable A stop motion animation that we see in many contemporary animations. The film can be classified as a conceptual film. It is an animation that has its ups and downs, but it is highly debatable and can be discussed in detail, including the design of people's faces and the similarity of people, etc.

Sometimes you see a movie and you feel like it's message just goes over your head. Everyone Michael meets has the same voice. Does that mean he sees them as all the same? He hears a girl in the hallway and she has a different voice. What does that mean? He gives a lecture on treating each customer like a person, but is he incapable of treating the people in his life that way? Did the writer of this story have an inspired idea but didn't know where to take it? or did I just miss the point?

i was confused by this movie. Perplexed. The film poster proclaims a masterpiece, and life changing film... but i feel like i've missed something. really? it seemed mundane and anti climatic. I feel like im the butt of a joke. That i don't understand. That someone made a mock film poster and now they are having a chuckle at people scratching their heads trying to figure out why people like this movie. Maybe it will be like the lobster where it will slowly dawn me why people found this movie compoleing. But it seems strange. Maybe there was something odd going on that i haven't fully realised. Some people have stated that his relationship with lisa was a fantasy and he was making love to the japanese doll, that he gave to his son?! really a mundane movie, but maybe that is the point... he's living a lost mundane existence and he meets a girl and that changes his life until she too because the same as everyone else.. anyone i'm a bit lost on this movie i am utterly shocked that rolling stone et al have called this a masterpiece.. i feel like i have missed a piece.

A handful of chuckles and the use of moderately clever animation can't save this tediously slow and underdeveloped exercise in pointless pretension. Whatever themes of isolation, connection, conformity and individuality that the director was aiming for get buried under heaping piles of mindless, unfocused dialogue that does little to enlighten us about the characters or effectively move the story forward. And, even at the scant runtime of 1:30, it feels a lot longer as we wait for this meandering, self-indulgent missive to finally burn itself out.