Movie · 2015 · Animation, Drama, Romance, Comedy · 1h 31m · R · English
Curator score: 8.0/10 (232.2K ratings)
Welcome to the Kaufman surreal-neorealism tale in a dull world of sameness.
Overview
An inspirational speaker becomes reinvigorated after meeting a lively woman who shakes up his mundane existence.
Ratings
Curator score: 8.0/10
IMDb: 7.2/10
Letterboxd: 3.85/5
Rotten Tomatoes: 92%
Metacritic: 88
TMDB: 7.1/10
Director
Charlie Kaufman, Duke Johnson
Production
Starburns Industries, Snoot Entertainment
Cast
David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan
Curator Review
Verdict
A bleak, funny, and painfully specific portrait of loneliness, ego, and the desperate need to feel seen. Its stop-motion style gives the emotional numbness an uncanny physical form, and the payoff lands with unusual force.
Best for
Viewers who like intimate character studies with existential discomfort
Fans of dark comedy that turns awkwardness into dread
People interested in inventive animation for adult drama
Anyone drawn to stories about isolation, marriage, and self-deception
Skip if
You want a conventional romance or uplifting emotional arc
You dislike cringe-heavy dialogue and prolonged discomfort
You prefer animation that feels playful or fantastical
You need a plot-driven film with clear external stakes
Overview
Anomalisa is a small movie with a bruising emotional radius. It takes a simple premise and turns it into a study of alienation so precise that the stop-motion puppetry feels less like a gimmick than a diagnosis: everyone is slightly unreal, slightly distant, and trapped behind the same social mask.
Worth noting
Charlie Kaufman’s script is funny in the way a panic attack can be funny from far away. The film keeps finding new shades of embarrassment, loneliness, and self-absorption, then quietly punctures them with moments of tenderness that feel almost dangerous because they are so rare.
Bottom line
What lingers is not the plot but the atmosphere of recognition. It’s a film about wanting connection while being unable to stop performing yourself, and about how briefly someone else’s attention can feel like salvation. That makes it emotionally harsh, but also unusually honest.
Top Letterboxd reviews
Eli Hayes (4.5★) · 2355 likes
"Some boys take a beautiful girl,and hide her away from the rest of the world..."
*SPOILERS WILL FOLLOW AS THIS WILL BE MORE OF A DISORGANIZED DISCUSSION/ANALYSIS THAN REVIEW*
Another note about the film's ending: Lisa does not use the term "Anomalisa" in the final scene of the film, but rather says that she looked up "Anomarisa," in a Japanese-English dictionary and that it translates to Goddess in Heaven. Now, "Anomarisa" isn't the Japanese phrase for Goddess of Heaven,… more
Matt Singer (5★) · 2064 likes
My love for this movie is zoo-sized.
maria (4★) · 1315 likes
this bitch was one consecutive line of awkward conversations, shit gave me more anxiety than uncut gems
Karsten (3.5★) · 1310 likes
So I rewatched Anomalisa, one of the top 5 films of that embarrassing “100 movies in one summer” video I did 2 years ago, and after an hour long discussion with the people I watched it with that ended in me deciding once again that CMBYN is insanely irresponsible, I’m coming to terms with the fact that this isn’t the “masterpiece” I made it out to be. What a long sentence!
It could be that I watched Synecdoche New York… more
emilia (2★) · 1221 likes
well damn if i wanted to watch an animated middle-aged sad sack make bad life decisions and have uncomfortable unprotected sex with strange women while occasionally dropping social commentary in the form of an inappropriately-timed monologue i would have just watched bojack horseman :/