Equal parts tender and humorous, emotional and surreal, ANOMALISA is a revolutionary stop-motion animated work of art detailing the story of a man desperately searching for an escape from the life he is living.
From the brilliant minds of directors Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson, Anomalisa tells the seemingly familiar story of Michael Stone, a customer service guru unhappy with his life. Set in a dark, lonely world similar to those in Kaufman’s other films (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Synecdoche New York), Stone moves through life, isolated and disconnected, especially from his family. Even the renown and admiration Stone receives in his travels for his job, giving speeches designed to improve efficiency in customer service call centers, does not thrill him. As he departs for another speaking engagement, this time to Cincinnati, Stone finds reason for excitement: the potential reunion and reconnection to a past love. Unfortunately, the reconciliation goes poorly, and Stone is left alone again, wandering the halls of his hotel searching for someone, anyone. It’s through this turn of fate that he meets Lisa, stunning not in her physical traits but in her individuality. Whereas everything and everyone just seems the same to Stone, Lisa is different, an anomaly. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize in Venice and sure to be one of the most talked about movies of the year, Anomalisa is both a love story about a sudden, brief but intense connection between two people as well as a bittersweet tale of a man coming to terms with the ugliest parts of himself.
DIRECTOR: Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson CAST: Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan, David Thewlis LANGUAGE: English COUNTRY: USA YEAR: 2015 LENGTH: 90 min
