Charlie Kaufman is responsible for more thought provoking original filmmaking than most other moviemakers dream of. No wonder his movies come out so sporadically; it must take years of studying the mind to come up with the stuff he thinks about. Anomalisa is Kaufman’s foray into the animated realm. Like the eclectic man, the movie is trippy at first glance; however, Anomalisa is so well grounded in real life emotion that after a while you stop seeing puppets and start seeing the people behind them.
Michael Stone (David Thewlis) is a motivational writer and speaker for customer service. In Cincinnati for a news conference, Michael’s life has hit a rut: he sees everyone in his life with the same face and voice (Tom Noonan). While practicing his big speech, Michael hears a completely new voice and rushes to meet her. This woman is Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), a small town insecure woman. Lisa keeps insisting she is nothing special, but to Michael, she is the first real person he has met in a long time.
The puppets and stop motion animation are a bold choice for Mr. Kaufman that effectively serve the story. Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson give the puppets a humanizing Polar Express look in addition to a cog-like appearance making people machine-like underneath. These choices fit the focus of the story very well; Michael believes everyone looks and operates the same, as if some machine is replacing their parts with normal ones. When Michael tries to connect with other people, however, these puppets look human enough to make it easier for the audience to connect with the characters. When Lisa sings a sweet girl anthem to Michael, we feel the sweetness and heartache that poor girl feels. Anomalisa like any good film uses its special effects to serve the story, not just be eye candy.
Anomalisa has been called Kaufman’s most human film, and it is hard to disagree. I’m sure most people have felt the world around them just does the same things, over and over. So when you see someone doing something different, you are immediately drawn to this person out of curiosity or attraction. Michael’s connection with Lisa lifts Michael’s life’s burdens off of his shoulders, if only for a little while. Kaufman isn’t just interested in exploring that though. The third act twists the perspective on the audience and then becomes a study of how certain people are just fundamentally broken inside, and how these people cope with such problems. Kaufman especially loves studying how the mind works, and Anomalisa explores this simple story from multiple different angles to give the audience a full perspective on the movie’s worldview.
Anomalisa is pretty adorable for Charlie Kaufman. The director kind of gets out of the way to let us feel alive with David Thewlis and Jennifer Jason Leigh. It also shows how sensual puppet oral sex can be. Can’t believe I got to write that sentence.