Putting the inherent eeriness of stop motion animation to perfect use, Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s Anomalisa create a legitimately disturbing experience of a man’s paranoid delusions, as he tries desperately to make a real human connection while perceiving everyone around him as the same person. It’s that (unfortunately) rare animated film that understands that this medium can tell complex, even terrifying, stories for grown-ups while respecting their intelligence. And it’s still gorgeously put together, with seamless movements from the character puppets and evocative lighting and cinematography that puts the film firmly in the uncanny valley. It’s a tougher watch than it looks, but the depth of feeling it captures is nothing short of totally human.
"What drives the film is a scowling suspicion that modern man is a mechanized being, created as if on an assembly line, and stripped bare of individuality-a product, like any other merchandise."
— Anthony Lane
"Intricately, brilliantly, tragically solipsistic."
— Sophie Monks Kaufman
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Other
1 nomination
