Mjeteconer Just perfect...

Stevecorp Don't listen to the negative reviews

Curapedi I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Neive Bellamy Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

proud_luddite Michael (voiced by David Thewlis) is a middle-aged, upper-middle class family man travelling to Cincinnati to deliver a corporate lecture on customer service. While there, he reacquaints with an ex-lover who was heartbroken by their breakup and then shows interest in another young woman whom he meets at the hotel. "Anomalisa" is a stop-motion animated film.The film begins with some questions. One is, why are all the characters' faces split in the middle? Another is, why are all the women's voices (except one) voiced by a man? (In fact, Tom Noonan voices all the men as well except Michael.)The answer to the first question takes time after the film's conclusion but the second is more easily answered during a breakfast scene near the movie's end.The highlight - and a big one at that - is a romantic conversation scene followed by a sex scene. The sex scene is warm, loving, and compassionate. This is a rarity as sex scenes in most modern films are cheap, vulgar, and casual. The romantic scene that precedes it is even more compelling.Lisa (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh) could easily represent many modern young women (and perhaps young men too) who seem to find every reason possible to believe that they are "not good enough". Lisa measures herself according to the more superficial societal standards of looks, career success, education level, and perceived intelligence. In this powerful scene, Michael is easily able to see Lisa's greatness despite her low self-esteem.As a character study, Michael could be called a sex/love addict or someone with pathological intimacy issues. This is evidenced in an earlier scene with an ex-lover and further exposed throughout the movie.There is an implication that much of Michael's misery comes from the corporatization of our modern world - something he helped create. The film could have been even more fascinating if it dealt further with this theme.However, it remains above par and how could it not be? The screenplay is by the brilliant Charlie Kaufman who also co-directed with Duke Johnson. As the writer of such gems as "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", his latest could only be equally unusual in a fascinating way. Likewise, Thewlis and Leigh are very powerful in their roles.

magnuslhad Michael is a customer service guru on jaunt in a nondescript hotel. He is jaded and misanthropic, everyone around him seems to get on his nerves. And these is a sameness about them... The ennui is wonderfully conveyed, and the process of using puppets in stop-motion adds to the sense of non-belonging and dislocation. Michael's dark soul is complemented by Lisa and her zest for life. The burgeoning relationship is both awkward and sweet, but, we sense, ultimately doomed. The sense of a man in middle-age crisis, of people living compartmentalised lives, is fully conveyed. There is some nice humour and pathos. But ultimately nothing much changes for Michael or Lisa, and any greater insight to life's many questions is not forthcoming. Take away the puppets and the process, and you are left with a film that says not very much at all.

Clifton Johnson I knew very little about this film: Charlie Kaufman, animated...that was about it. Interestingly enough, it was one of the more human films that I've seen lately. Even though the characters were created from 3D printers. I could not look away, and I found each little moment to be intriguing and poignant. It was not a perfect piece - more play than movie, a bit light on plot - bit it was worth seeing (and revisiting), for sure.

mlitvinava In my reviews, I usually critique and obsess over story-line, cinematography, production design, and acting. And although I have good things to say about the voice acting and the beautiful (and to be honest, quite haunting) stop-motion, this review will be my anomaly. Because the characters in this movie deserve their own standing ovation. I watched Anomalisa not knowing what to expect, having never seen anything written by Charlie Kaufman before (I apologize to the hardcore Kaufman fans, but I promise after Anomalisa, it'll be hard to keep me away).And so I sat there while the movie folded out in front of me--It was so simple. Yet the entire time, I was taken aback at how REAL the characters were. Every little thing they said, every little thing they did, and every little thing they went through, I found it so easy to sympathize and relate to these characters who, just minutes before the movie started, had meant absolutely nothing to me. And for me, that was magical.I usually fall in love with the story of a movie. But here, the characters WERE the story. And they really weren't that special at all. But that's what made them the most beautiful.