“Michael Stone, an author of books on the subject of customer service, struggles with his inability to connect to people. One night, while on a routine business trip, he meets a stranger who changes his world view.” Acrobatically labyrinthine psychological musings that are as bleak as they are sweetly touching…what else would we expect from co-director Charlie Kaufman, writer of ‘Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind’, ‘Being John Malkovich’ and ‘Adaptation’?

He now turns his reflective reflexive muscle towards stop motion with ‘Anomalisa’, co-directing with veteran animated series director Duke Johnson of ‘Mary Shelley’s Frankenhole’ fame. Voice acting features David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan. This 80 minute piece has already won the Grand Jury prize at the Venice Film Festival and is now eligible to be nominated for the Best Animated Feature Category at this year’s Oscars, to duke it out with Pixar’s ‘Inside Out’. There is already a lot of excitement about this truly independent film as evidenced by its great critical review, online support and crowd funding. 3D printers were used for the face replacements.

The overall effect, although animated, is almost an immersion into hyper-reality. It will be released in select theaters, December 30th, and “everywhere” in January. Below Charlie Kaufman speaks about its production and inception, at Venice Film Festival. One thing’s for sure- with this team’s track records, the film’s brilliance ain’t no anomaly!
blog by vera long

For full credits, cast and crew click here.