From writer Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Duke Johnson (Moral Orel, Frankenhole) comes Anomalisa. Now, you can watch and share the new “Peopling Anomalisa” featurette (see above) on how Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson humanized the puppets of Anomalisa.
Anomalisa tells the story of Michael Stone (David Thewlis), husband, father, and respected author of How May I Help You Help Them? is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he’s scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming Akron baked goods sales rep, Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who may or may not be the love of his life.
A beautifully tender and absurdly humorous dreamscape, from the brilliant minds of Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York) and Duke Johnson, this stop-motion animation wonder features the vocal cast talents of Jennifer Jason Leigh, David Thewlis, Tom Noonan, and a stirring strings-based score by Carter Burwell.
The darkly comedic and surreal stop-motion journey of a man’s long night of the soul, Anomalisa confirms Kaufman’s place amongst the most important of American filmmakers, and announces Johnson as a major creative force.
You can see Anomalisa in theaters everywhere in January!
An independent filmmaker, co-writer and director of over a dozen short films, the Editor in Chief of CinemaNerdz.com has spent much of the last three decades as a writer and editor specializing in biographical and critical reference sources in literature and the cinema, beginning in February 1991 reviewing films for his college newspaper. He was a member of the Detroit Film Critics Society, as well as the group's webmaster and one-time President for over a decade until the group ceased to exist. His contributions to film criticism can be found in Magill's Cinema Annual, VideoHound's Golden Movie Retriever (of which he was the editor for nearly a decade until it too ceased to exist), the International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers, and the St. James Film Directors Encyclopedia (on which he collaborated with editor Andrew Sarris). He has also appeared on the television program Critic LEE Speaking alongside Lee Thomas of FOX2 and Adam Graham, of The Detroit News. He currently lives in the Detroit area with his wife and their dogs.
