I’m having a real hard time trying to describe ANOMALISA to you…
The first hint of this surreal outing was the film’s creator Charlie Kaufman who got the cinematic project off the ground thanks to Kickstarter.
Never heard of Kaufman?
Well, he’s got a cult following in certain circles due to his previous works which include BEING JOHN MALKOVICH and ADAPTATION.
With ANOMALISA Kaufman unleashes his controversial yet fascinating stop-motion in an animated puppets dramedy—that is definitely NOT for kids!
It all takes place in a downtown Cincinnati convention hotel.
This is the story of an L.A. based, very married motivational self-help author Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis) making yet another mundane business speaking trip.
This time it’s to Cincinnati where he’s booked to parlay the virtues of his book called How May I Help You Help Yourself? to a gathering of so-called customer service professionals.
Yeap, another city. Another convention hotel. Pretty boring stuff.
To kill his pre-speech evening, Mike calls up a past acquaintance that he dumped there almost a decade ago—and that goes nowhere.
So how about hitting the hotel bar?
That’s where he meets two delegates to his presentation. They’ve arrived from Akron and they’re both big fans of his teachings.
Well one thing leads to another and Michael soon ends up with one of them upstairs in his hotel room.
She’s the unassuming Lisa who now fulfills Michael’s understated desires and is voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh.
Sure they’re just puppets by they sure don’t leave much to the imagination.
We’re talking graphic puppet sex.
The storyline takes some weird detours at times and you’ll wonder what the hell THOSE are all about.
What we’ve got here is a strange, emotional, intriguing and odd tale of loneliness—and it’s not for everyone.
To be truthful at first (strongly) disliked the film at time of screening. But guess what, it grew on me after sleeping on it. Go figure?
It somehow mattered more to me some 24 hours later.
Some moviegoers WILL hate it. Others will love it.
For you? Be forewarned as you enter Charlie Kaufman’s world in graphic monotone.
A place and time known as AMOMALISA.
The ‘dramedy’ opens as a limited engagement.
My score: A surreal B.
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM, KMBZ.
almost weird-sounding. throw in a dash of rod serling, and who knows!? “being john malkovich” was strange, but i rather liked that one. not sure puppetporn is up my alley.
surely, there must be some jokes about strings, puppets, sex…
It’s actually stop-motion puppet sex.
(…reminds me of that night in Hamburg 🙂
I heard it was better than the puppet sex scene in Team America. Is this true?
It’s just different. Quite emotional at times.
I come hard for Michael’s puppet jaw in the morning light
My hot friend says when you gonna live your life right
Oh mother dear we’re not the fortunate ones
And girls they want to have fun
Oh girls just want to have fun
You had me at puppet sex…
note to Jack – the movie “Kansas City Confidential” is on the MGM channel this a.m. at 1:30 –in case you want to DVR it, and review the “namesake” movie for this site–
always enjoy reading your reviews
Thanks. But it’s not my namesake. It’s Hearne’s.