ANOMALISA

A man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary. —IMDB

This stop-motion animation is a strange little movie. It’s basically about a man who is at a very low point in his life, completely bored with his mundane existence, who has an affair at a hotel where he is to present on his area of expertise — customer service. The voices are all done by one person which means that the story is quite unsettling and confusing — although, on one level, it’s a pretty straightforward story. The animation is excellent and there is good character development. Most critics seem to be raving about this movie. But it didn’t do much for me. It is clever in a way — but after awhile, it gets pretty boring. The main character is clearly depressed and decides to seduce a naive young girl. There’s nothing very likeable about the main character and it’s pretty obvious that the only woman who would be “attracted” to him is one who has such a low self-esteem that anyone showing her attention would be appreciated. The man she is attracted to is a nasty, self-centred, self-absorbed user of this gentle, self-conscious, young woman. So, overall, pretty average. My rating gives credit to the quality of the animation.