Anomalisa
Directed by: Duke Johnson & Charlie Kaufman
Written by: Charlie Kaufman
Voices by: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Animation/Comedy/Drama - 90 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 5 Jan 2016
Written by: Charlie Kaufman
Voices by: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Animation/Comedy/Drama - 90 min Reviewed by Charlie Juhl on 5 Jan 2016
Charlie Kaufman used to be one of Hollywood’s most prolific eccentrics. Every couple of years, he would emerge with a screenplay full of off-the-wall ideas and sheer audacity. People would shimmy through a corridor into the mind of the actor John Malkovich. You could pay to undergo a procedure to wipe the memory of an entire person from your conscious mind. From the mind the man responsible for Adaptation and Synecdoche, New York, comes Anomalisa, a far more grounded story than we expect from Kaufman. Well, as much as grounded may embody stop-motion animation comprised of puppets and the same actor voicing dozens of characters including men, women, and children. Kaufman is nothing if not original.
Anomalisa was not originally written for the screen. It was a ‘sound play’ just like one folks used to listen to on the radio prior to television. There was even a foley artist on stage generating the various door closures and footsteps. The original cast of three who starred in the live version returns for the puppet version including David Thewlis (Macbeth) as our lead protagonist, Michael Stone, Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) as Lisa, and Tom Noonan as everyone else. When I say everyone else I truly mean it. Noonan is the cab driver, Michael’s wife and kid, Michael’s still bitter ex-girlfriend, and even Lisa’s co-worker/roommate. Why does Noonan voice everyone in Michael’s life other than Lisa? I’ll give you my thought on that in a bit.
Anomalisa was not originally written for the screen. It was a ‘sound play’ just like one folks used to listen to on the radio prior to television. There was even a foley artist on stage generating the various door closures and footsteps. The original cast of three who starred in the live version returns for the puppet version including David Thewlis (Macbeth) as our lead protagonist, Michael Stone, Jennifer Jason Leigh (The Hateful Eight) as Lisa, and Tom Noonan as everyone else. When I say everyone else I truly mean it. Noonan is the cab driver, Michael’s wife and kid, Michael’s still bitter ex-girlfriend, and even Lisa’s co-worker/roommate. Why does Noonan voice everyone in Michael’s life other than Lisa? I’ll give you my thought on that in a bit.
Michael Stone is a famous writer in the customer service industry and hired motivational speaker. We meet him on the plane flying to Cincinnati from Los Angeles to present his latest book at a conference. For no overt reason, Michael is also British. Your guess why Kaufman wrote Michael British is as good as mine. Perhaps it helps the audience separate his voice from Noonan’s or perhaps Americans will more readily accept that a British man would naturally be more adept in the hospitality industry than an American.
Quite soon, we realize something is awry with the voices and David’s sullen outlook on life. He smokes even though just about everywhere he goes there is no smoking. The cab driver drones on and on about Cincinnati’s zoo Michael must see before he leaves, the hotel bellhop is too eager to please, and the ex-girlfriend Michael phones to meet up for a drink becomes a major mistake. The ex-girlfriend episode also gives us an outside interpretation of Michael and drops hints he is not the nicest of men in his personal life. Apparently, Michael just up and left Cincinnati a long time ago with zero goodbyes. He claims to not know why but unwisely invites his ex-lover back to his room to ‘talk’. That is not the move of a man trying to establish clarity.
Enter Lisa. Lisa sounds like a woman. To Michael’s ears, she sounds different than every single person on the planet and breathes life into his soul. We are so used to Tom Noonan’s voice inflections for every character it also excites the audience to hear Lisa speak. Michael and Lisa enjoy a one-night stand in the hotel which involves perhaps the most graphic sex scene you will ever see involving stop-motion puppets. Anomalisa is rated R and surprisingly, it is not just for the dirty words, these puppets engage in some realistic sensual scenarios. The sex scene does not come off like Team America: World Police, where Trey Parker and Matt Stone made you laugh at how silly it looks for puppets to have sex. Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson treat the scene with all seriousness and, trust me, nobody is laughing.
Back to the original question, why does everyone in Michael’s life sound the same? I suspect severe depression but that is only a guess. There may be an undiagnosed bipolar disorder floating around because of the severe high Michael achieves when Lisa pops up and severe lows we encounter with him later on. Yet, Michael is untrustworthy. The very odd way he meets Lisa is confusing and his explanation does not account for his actions. His run-in with the ex is also an alarm bell. Something is more than not quite right with Michael.
The best part of Anomalisa is the return of Charlie Kaufman. His words have been absent from our movie screens for more than seven years; therefore, the best we can hope for is another run of crazy Kaufman films or at the very least, Anomalisa will be a one-off but a juicy addition to any discussion of Kaufman’s filmography. Anomalisa does not approach Kaufman at his best, neither for his Oscar-winning Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, nor my personal favorite, Being John Malkovich, but even though I do not join the fanfare of many who champion this film, I can understand why they are so impressed with the creativity.
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