An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
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Reviews
mattwilde123
8
By mattwilde123
Reviewing this film gives me great pleasure as I thought it was very well made. It is a beautiful film about the isolation and the disembodiment of modern society. 'Anomalisa' tells the story of a man called Michael Stone played by David Thewlis on a business trip and we realise how lonely he is.The film is made using start-stop animation puppetry which had been chosen for amazing effect. Each character has the same face (seemingly like masks) and everyone has the same monotonic voice apart from the two main characters. This makes the themes of identity and loneliness so very profound and imaginative.
The repetitiveness of the main character's lifestyle comes to a halt when he overhears a guest in his hotel which is cleverly named The Fregoli which is the name of a mental condition to do with paranoia. This guest turns out to be voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh. She is the only other voice heard and Stone is enchanted by her and instantly asks for her to go back to his room. He makes her sing and listens to her intently. There is a very graphic sex scene which would be humourous in any other circumstance but it is very moving and beautiful.
I won't talk any more about the story as it'll ruin it. 'Anomalisa' is a very clever film from the mind who brought us 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Adaptation.' and 'Being John Malkovich' and it shows. Everything about it is expertly done. It is sad that this was only up for 'Best Animated Feature' alongside two dimensional children's cartoons at the Academy Awards and it wasn't recognised for being the great film that it is.
★★★★
tmdb47633491
8
By tmdb47633491
A reminder of what movies can do. That is, revitalize the soul. I usually watch movies in spurts. I won't see anything for 9-13 months, because things in my life are going for the most part smoothly, but then comes this inevitable (it would seem) slide back into not so much a depression as much a soul-level detachment from reality. Lethargy, I guess you'd call it. So I put together 40-50 new things to watch and marathon at the pace of 2 or 3 per day, until I'm finished. Every time I do this, one or two movies come along that splash water on my face and bring me back to life. The rare breed of original, endearing, honest, careful and considered filmic experiences like 2001, or Ikiru, Hannah and Her Sisters, City Lights, or Anomalisa, are, for me, the antidote to a dying spirit. This one got me shook
