Anomalisa (2015)

Ann, Carolyn, Jack, and I liked this crazy animated feature about a depressed (and crazy) guy who meets an insecure (and crazy) woman on a business trip. I knew going in that there were only three voice actors: the man, the woman, and another man did everyone else's voice. That's good to know because you might think you are going crazy when people of all ages and both sexes sound the same.

David Thewlis (last blogged for The Theory of Everything) and Jennifer Jason Leigh (most recently in The Hateful Eight) are masterful in their roles as is Tom Noonan (part of the ensemble of co-director/co-writer Charlie Kaufman's Synecdoche, New York) who puts mood and feeling into each part he voices.

Kaufman won a writing Oscar for Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005), and was nominated for the original script of Being John Malkovich (1999) and adapting Adaptation (2002). All of them, and particularly Synecdoche, play fast and loose with reality and sanity. He also wrote the excellent Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002), about the not-terribly sane Chuck Barris. This is Kaufman's second time directing and here he shares that duty and writing with Duke Johnson (new to me, he's an animator). The movie is nominated for the Best Animated Feature Oscar (awarded to the producers) and more. See my running list of nominations and awards.

The animation technique is stop-motion, in which the characters are photographed still, then moved in tiny increments, and all the photos are pieced together, such as in The Fantastic Mr. Fox or all the Wallace & Gromit movies. Some have been confused by the term "puppets," so maybe "dolls" would be more descriptive, because, like Pinocchio, they've got no strings. They're not realistic, with shortened arms, stubby fingers on big hands, and seams across their faces that make them look as if they're wearing glasses. Here are a production still and a close-up.

Do NOT bring the kids--they'd be bored before the onset of full nudity and sex anyway. Two separate stories on NPR said that the movement of naked bodies was a challenge for the animators and the sex scene was a challenge for Leigh.

During the movie you will be told the meaning and pronunciation of the title and will probably figure out why everyone else is voiced by Noonan. Or you can look up this term, used as a name early on. Because some might find it a spoiler, I won't print it. There's only one trivia item: that Lisa calls the freeway in Ohio "the 71," which is not likely to be used for a freeway in Ohio. I know that's how it's said in California. Imdb says it's also used in western New York.

The music, by Carter Burwell (Carol) is very pretty and you can listen to the first track on the album here.

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are averaging 92% and its audiences 76. Not for the impatient, it takes a while to get going, but worth it for serious movie lovers.