Review of Anomalisa (2015) by Dana F — 29 Jun 2017

The only reason I'm rating this film this high is because of its ingenuity. And it is indeed ingenious. The entire film is real novelty, but I'd expect nothing less from Charlie Kaufman, who wrote such films as "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind".

For those who are not familiar with this film, this is a stop-motion animated film (FOR ADULTS, please dear god don't let your kids watch this movie) about a man who perceives everyone as the same person.

Different hair and clothes, but same face, same voice. Then he encounters a woman whose face and voice is different, and he is totally enchanted by her. Okay, fine, sounds like a quirky love story, right? Well, it's not.

I won't spoil it, but it doesn't go in the direction you'd think. Though I was absolutely on-board with the concept, I just couldn't stand the characters. The main character is such a contemptible douche that I just couldn't empathize with his plight at all.

He treats everyone he encounters like crap. I really, really hated him. And everybody else in the film is a total idiot, so they all got on my nerves too. Then there is the animation, which I found distracting (why do all the characters have lines in the middle of their heads?? Bothersome).

The fact that it's even animated at all feels like a gimmick, I would have preferred to have seen a live-action version of this film. The movie is slow to get going but it's not overlong... so on the plus side, it's well-paced and the script is very well-written.

And David Thewlis's voice work as the main character is fantastic. I just didn't enjoy it all that much because I didn't like the characters. But... originality scores serious points in my book, and it has that in spades.

So, it has its pros and it cons, but it's definitely a film like none other, so I'd recommend it. Just don't let your kids see it.