Review of Anomalisa (2015) by Dylan H — 10 Feb 2016

Can't believe I'd rate a Kaufman film so low - Synecdoche New York did some damage (the main character was so annoying I couldn't watch all of it) and Anomalisa has put the nail in the coffin.

Absolutely nothing happens, and everything that does is an odd combination of painfully awkward, simultaneously sexually neurotic, aggressive and desperate all at the same time. The only main plot points - a husband meets an ex in a hotel for a drink and tries to have sex with her.

She refuses. He then meets another woman, and he has sex with her. By the next morning, she annoys him, and she's starting to sound like everyone else. I can't think of any real reason why this was animated.

Feeling disconnected from life / reality? If that's what it was, things would turn live action when he met Lisa. The main character is thoroughly unlikeable, the emotion is sickeningly sentimental and flippant.

Kaufman let too much of his ugly side out, and didn't fill it with enough plot, nor enough meaning. SOME flickers of good ideas (like when his face temporarily falls off) which wasn't really tied in with anything else.

For an hour and a half you have to really cram the ideas in there. A slow film like this needs to be longer. Simply put - not enough plot, a very unlikeable main character, and ultimately, not meaningful enough.

Another peep show into Kaufman's psyche - and like Synecdoche New York - I don't like what I see. I see too much chaos, not enough structure. Like if I asked a whining, overly verbose poet to describe something that a better poet could say more meaningfully, and more succinctly.

It takes 20 minutes for him to arrive at the hotel and order some room service and call his ex. This is one quarter of the film. Sorry Charlie, it's just gibberish.