Anomalisa (2015)

> Through the eyes of one who thinks everyone in the world is alike.

The film was based on the stage play. Originally it was meant for a short movie, but during in the production it was extended to a feature film length and ended up knocking the Oscars door. A R-rated stop-motion animation, which is the first in the history of the Academy Awards to get a nomination. My last stop-motion was the last year's 'Shaun the Sheep Movie', so that makes this kind of filmmaking is going extinct. For that reason alone, I just don't want to miss it out, as well as I prepared to enjoy every bit of it and so I suggest others to do the same if they find it interesting.

My expectation was quite simple which is entertainment. But usually animations are comedies, in that perspective, this is slightly a letdown. Wait, this film is for adults and of course the humours in this narration was delivered on its own style like a black comedy. It is a weird title right! But the film explains it in a simple manner. That's not it, there are more weird stuffs in it, like I was confused over the character voice tones for both the sexes and again the film had the reasons which will be revealed at a crucial segment.

It was something like 'Lost in Translation', about a middle-aged man named Michael Stone, who is on a trip to Cincinnati to promote his latest book. Slowly it unfolds what kind of person he's really and going further, his struggle in the married life comes the prime focus. So this tour opens a new door for him once again to fall in love which leads him for a tough decision to make. But at a certain extent, the reality check comes into play. About everything he's doing and all the life he left behind makes him feel he's trapped in some kind of delusion. His ultimate decision is where this tale going to conclude.

> "Sometimes there's no lesson.
> That's a lesson in itself."

The camera never takes off its lens in its throughout narration on the main character, Stone. Right from the beginning till the final scene, the film follows him like in a real time. So the entire film was like everything that happened in a 24 hour. That's the character development you would get. Besides, there are scenes, like the sex part that may stun you. Because it was not like I have ever seen one, not in animation. Even compared it to the Hentai, Hentai was 2 dimensional pictures whereas this is technically a 3 dimensional, so the effect was much more realistic and the impact on the viewers definitely will be strong.

The real problem those who saw it to end up in a disappointment is that it's not your regular animation. Which is usually aimed for children and family audience, but adults too can have a great time, whereas this film had a very matured and sensitive contents. Maybe they did not want the display of the real life experience to be narrated with a bunch of toys. But in the perspective of stop-motion animation, it is a great artistic achievement. It is not only their anticipation that killed their joy, but failing to accept the fact that we see regularly in the live-shot films to see them again in a different format.

What I liked the most in it was the message regarding the main character on his suffering. When he sits in front of the antique he bought for his son which makes him realise himself on what he's seeking in others around him. But what's his delusion is that he thinks the world is not balanced, everyone are alike. So what he actually needs is a redefined life, in which this film portrayed how close he came to one before everything shattered.

This is not just a comedy, but a very real film for the people who wants to understand the life on its different stages and threat it poses where every one of us go through in our lifetime. Surely it is no masterpiece, but there's no reason to ignore on the subject it deals. It will remain one of the best stop-motion animation, exclusively made for adults. There are grown up who simply ignore animations, because they think it is too cartoonish. Undoubtedly it will be a good film them to try.

7/10

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.

★★★★

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

Desperately sad yet beautiful in its simplicity, this stop-motion masterpiece about a man's mid-life crisis has a good chance of sticking with you, especially if you're older than 40.