Reviews

• 

  ★★★★★ review by Matt Singer on Letterboxd

  My love for this movie is zoo-sized.

• 

  ★★★★ review by davidehrlich on Letterboxd

  "i think you're extraordinary, but i don't know why yet."

  …it has something to do with a courageous reckoning with a man's egocentrism. "every one you talk to has had a day." loved the small scale, loved the discombobulating animation mode, loved the puppet cunnilingus. not an expansion of Kaufman's worldview (how can you expand on Synecdoche?), but a refinement... a guide for daily living.

• 

  ★★★★★ review by Eli Hayes on Letterboxd

  First, a link to my most recent "analysis" of the film:
  
  letterboxd.com/elihayes/film/anomalisa/4/

  "Sometimes, there's no lesson.
  
  That's a lesson in itself."

  Enigmatic, extraordinarily minimalist & confined, yet broad in scope, existing in an alien, yet somehow- common location, a place both claustrophobic and infinite in its span.

  Indeed, it is a film both colossally complex and at the same time minuscule... very, very minuscule; contained, restrained, the environment/edifice itself being the third primary character, the fish tank containing the pair of souls.

  The screenplay is what perfects the sporadically shifting tone. The characters: idiosyncratic, flawed, likable and sometimes unlikable (but always in an enormously human way).

  Above all else though, this was, for me, terrifying.
  
  A dark comedy of the blackest sort, to the point
  
  of provoking a greater multitude of emotions from me
  
  than most films have ever been able to produce
  
  (in its swift and concise 85 minute runtime).

  Right up there with:
  
  End of Evangelion,
  
  It's Such a Beautiful Day,
  
  and Angel's Egg.

• 

  ★★★★★ review by Wesley R. Ball on Letterboxd

  I am all alone in this world, and my biggest fear is staying that way. If you saw me in person you would understand. I'm not the best sight for the eyes, and I'm grossly overweight. I have no faith in getting another chance with any girl again. I have an alarmingly unhealthy attachment to my ex; even though I know for a fact she'll never want to get back with me and if we were to get back together there's a strong chance I would get left out in the cold again, I still have a relentless urge to want to go out with her again. I can't just see her as a friend like we used to. Not after what happened. Not after all the mental abuse. But i have a much worse problem. I can't talk to girls.

  Oh, I can talk to girls like any other person. But I can't have emotional/relationship type discussions with girls, even if it's just a friendly outing. I verbally black out. Just when I think I have the right words, they're gone. Just after having ridiculously melodramatic daydreams about the endless possibilities of what could happen with girl X, my mind is unable to process the right words. I've never actually asked a girl out. The two girls I've been with asked me first. I don't even know if I'm in the "dating" age range anymore. How do I even approach this kind of situation now? Is the best option to look online, where you could find just about anyone you could think of? Should I go to more social events? No, I would just clam up again. That or awkwardly laugh and talk about things no one else knows about. How do I even start a conversation with a girl? You'd think it'd be just as easy as starting one with a guy, right? But what should I talk about? How do I break the ice? How do I pry open this thick shell that now engulfs my once lively personality to let her know I'm a genuine person? Why do I keep asking questions?

  I honestly didn't think Anomalisa would hold up for me, watching it again. I thought my back to back watching of this the first time would burn me out too quickly. The story's too simple to really have any depth or meaning, right? No, it's actually superbly human to a point where each time I watch it I still end up in tears, questioning how I got in this position. When will I ever find my Anomalisa? Who will be my voice among the sea of Tom Noonans? I'm not gonna sugarcoat it here, I need some real help. Help I'm not going to get from the people around me. Help with moving on, accepting that the past can't become real again. Help in realizing that my "friends" from back then all only really wanted me for their own personal gains. Help with finding a way out of this confusing forest of deception. I just want to be happy again, like I used to be.

  I'm completely lost in this world, and my biggest fear is staying that way.

• 

  ★★★★½ review by Katie on Letterboxd

  "I think you’re extraordinary."
  
  "Why?"
  
  "I don’t know yet."

  I don't really actually know what to say about this movie? I can't think of anything clever, I can't think of anything moving. I guess I'm just kind of broken. Thanks Charlie Kaufman, for being the leading cause of my depression.

• See all reviews