2/4/2016 - Anomalisa (2015) - 7+/8-/10

The madness in the mundane. As someone who doesn’t tend to warm to Kauffman’s work, this film grew on me and finally clicked, as it came together. A slow, ponderous, and sometimes onerous journey into both a fabricated and all-together too honest world may curry disfavor with some. But, that is a necessary component to take an unflinching gaze inside our own prisons, both mental and metaphorical. A clever, amusing and agonizing exploration of depression and the seeming futility & momentary brilliance of life and people.

I suppose it could be seen as a mental illness film, but I took it as more of an exaggerated depiction of our own views and neurosis in living our lives. The subjective nature of our experiences made manifest within this uber realistic/intentionally artificial puppet world. The small elements of life that make up the totality of an existence but are rarely depicted in cinema are prevalent (i.e. the awkwardness of an elevator ride with a stranger, not having the right words during an important personal encounter, the delicate intricacies and foibles of a first lovemaking) and build a lived-in and empathetic essence. Brilliant, but an acquired taste.

The grinding sameness and unspectacularly of much of the film pushed the boundaries of acceptability, but the haunting internal identification and the Kauffman eeriness bleeding around the edges made it worth the slow. The use of puppets was completely justified and necessary, acting as metaphor for his psychosis/point of view and providing interesting opportunities to exemplify a Fregoli/Capgras syndrome. If they are all the same and there is no escape, there is no control except the “great controller”. The stunning detail and quality of the puppetry and filmmaking helped add to the influence of the film and cement its surprising quality.