Anticipating Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa

yeah it was definitely hard to sympathize with him. it would have been more interesting if instead of it being a labored metaphor, his character actually did have agnosia or something.

i don't think we're meant to sympathize with the narrator but it just makes the movie kinda supremely unpleasant, which i'm guessing was the goal. it's really lingered with me though, for what it's worth

yeah, tbf, the movie is not in the same perplexity dfw's talking about there (tho i was prob thinking of that review w my "mid-20c crop"; he calls them "Great Male Narcissists" iirc) -- it's explicit that the protag's affliction is his own and will not be dreamgirled away. and the movie's very awareness of his responsibility means that its big tragic climax -- breakfast -- is, inevitably, also the moment at which you're most inclined to be like OH FUCK YOU. so yeah, a genuinely "difficult" movie, for most, probably.

"responsibility" not necc the right word -- just that the disease is clearly not everybody else's.

yeah, driven 100% home by the JJL's blond friend having a different face in the last shot. At least I think that's the case; it's possible my memory is tricking me there.

Anyway, I'm with the other posters above. I know we're not supposed to sympathize with the character, but I also didn't find anything particularly compelling about the whole thing. Obviously the aesthetic choices are pretty audacious and the underlying concept intriguing at first...but beyond that it didn't feel like there was anything of interest. Which is very much unlike Kaufman's usual high concept stuff!

to the film's credit lisa is a very, very real person (and the most compelling part of the movie) and from the jump you can tell the dude is projecting his bullshit onto her, when her voice recedes into the neutral noonan frequency it is heartbreaking bc she is still the same really sweet, compelling person and the dude is an awful manchild who does not know what he wants.

i really wanted to love this but it seems like the weakest thing kaufman has written. very much of a piece with her in terms of an interesting concept but not really fleshed out enough. (also reminded me of locke, in terms of a movie about a guy having some sort of crisis, though that did it a lot better). kaufman mega fans will prob be better placed to appreciate it, but this just felt like something that should have been a short. some lovely little moments, but as a character, the main guy seemed barely explored. narrative-wise, it seemed clunkily episodic. there was a nice atmosphere of melancholy, which lingered with me, but i didnt have much else to hang onto. it seemed to really be trying hard to present something deeper and more profound but didnt have the storytelling chops to pull it off - the main thing i kept thinking was that kaufman is maybe just not served by trying to tell a straightforward story - he should stick with meta.

the whole premise of him being autistic (if i understood that right?) didnt seem to be clear. i also didnt totally get what making it with stop motion animation really did for the story, as they didnt seem quite artificial enough. i kept thinking jan svankmajer or even tim burton might have done something more interesting with it visually. then again, without it, this would just be another so-so american indie bout awkwardness, so maybe that was a smart move.

Not heard anything about autism before and didn't think that when watching.

Most heartbreaking Cyndi Lauper cover ever.

Phooey. I'm with Morbs on this.

Lisa's character doesn't ring as totally true to me. Kaufman presents her as overly insecure, with the exception of her amazing singing. Even broken people can navigate their own strengths, she just seems a little one-dimensional. Which is sad, because she's also the best thing about this film IMO.

so depressing to see such interesting and effective technique expended on something as dull and over-done and mundane as the White Male Midlife Crisis yet fucking again. I think I really despise Charlie Kaufman. depressing that critics lap this shit up too. Michael's ex who stormed out and told him to fuck off after 5 minutes otm.

Michael is a dickhead whose problems are excruciatingly boring and Lisa is just a projection of someone to save from herself, the character rang so false, all that caricatured insecurity

oh i guess i've just known ppl like lisa in my life. i agree she's thinly drawn bc this movie is v focused on michael and boy does michael suck

the insecurities didn't ring false, laying them on so thick did. the character existed purely to be nobly "saved"

ok yeah agreed there

Yeah, I agree with you Lex.