Told entirely with stop-motion photography, Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson's Anomalisa is a tender and affectionate film about Michael Stone, an author specializing in customer service. Michale is a man who finds it nearly impossible to interact with anybody on a deeper level, living a life of mental solitude regardless of having a loving wife and child. While on a business trip to Cincinnati, Michael meets Lisa, a self-deprecating fan of his work, which slowly begins to offer glimmers of hope for Michael, a man who struggles with his negative view of life. Anomalisa is tender but it certainly isn't uplifting, being a very humanistic portrait of loneliness, depression, and longing. The film is nuanced, with very little being outright stated by the filmmakers, but it appears that Michael is a man suffering from some form of mental illness - depression at the very least. The opening few minutes of the film establish Michael Stone's demeanor perfectly, with all of his interactions being cold and stilted. He isn't rude by any means, just uninterested in engaging in human interaction, with one of Anomalisa's best attributes being how it depicts the social barriers which can be raised, unintentionally or not, by loneliness and depression. The relationship that unfolds between Michael and Lisa is delicate and assured, with the two of them spending a night together in the hotel room, as Michael finds solace in her imperfections. The next morning things don't go quite as well, as Michael's emotional instability begins to show itself with Lisa, lashing out at her imperfections and small habits that annoy him. Michael is a characer whose emotional distress has brought him much pain and loneliness, with Kaufman's film capturing the circular effect of such things, a downward spiral that is impossible to stop with the conscious mind. Kaufman's film attempts to remove intellect from the equation, arguing that our emotions are what truly define us as human-beings, with Michael unable to conquer his own darker attributes. Featuring one of the most interesting sex scenes of any film this year, being equal parts tender and awkward, Charlie Kaufman & Duke Johnson's Anomalisa is an engaging romantic story about two imperfect people, exploring the banality that makes up everyday life and the emotional and or mental distress that can get in the way of happiness.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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