I finally got to watch Anomalisa last night. For almost a year, I was anxiously waiting for my opportunity to screen the critically acclaimed film, but it wasn’t until I found it available on VUDU that I knew I’d be able to.
As I expected, the film is absolutely gorgeous. Producing humanistic beauty through stop-motion puppets is not an easy feat, but it’s executed wonderfully. I could summarize the film with one word – CHARMING. It’s honest and real, but it’s important themes aren’t too intense to ever look away.
I fear that a common viewer might leave the movie thinking it was about infidelity. It’s far from that – and more about the elasticity of the human heart. We love in cycles, our emotions eb and flow, and we continue to run to the things that excite us most in the moment.
Somehow, a movie featuring a bunch of puppets bring this to life perfectly. It’s a shame I watched this in 2016, because if I could retroactively redesign my “Best Movies of 2015,” Anomalisa would probably be inserted at #1.
PS – The film is pronounced “Anomaly-sa.” I was pronouncing it Animal-eesa until I heard the titular line during the movie. And trust me, the genius in the mashup of the word anomaly and the female lead’s name, Lisa, couldn’t have worked more wonderfully.