Anomalisa (2015), R, ★★★★

Is it the man's fault or the world's fault?

A man's point in life in which he is crippled by the mundane surroundings has to haunt him because basically a middle-aged man has nowhere to go in life according to his character in the movie. Charlie Kaufman is a writer/director whose vision creates an impact to challenge yourself and your mind. It messes you up when experiencing the story on-screen but it makes you think about his process and the story within to solve what Kaufman is trying to say based on his characters and their traits. This movie excels at its emotional core and depth while provoking some thought and complexity into the audience. It's a rare revolutionary animated tale made for adults.

Michael Stone (voiced by David Thewlis) is a respected author who is on the way to Cincinnati to speak at a convention of customer service professionals. He goes to the terminal in which everybody has the same voice (voiced by Tom Noonan) but in a different human being. It drives Michael delusional as to why he is hearing the same voice from every different human being. He goes outside from the airport and asks the taxi driver to take him to The Fregoli Hotel. (Look Fregoli up on the Internet and you'll be blown away.) After a humorous conversation with the driver, he arrives at the hotel.

When he arrives, he calls his wife and son in which they also have the same voice as everyone else. After showering, he hears a female voice for the first time in ages named Lisa (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh), an awkward woman with low self-esteem who is a big fan of Stone. She raises his book to him titled How May I Help You Help Them? which reveals to be a book for businesses. She reveals that their business used the book and help raise productivity to 70 percent. They both bond as she sings a song from an artist that I shall not reveal, but as she expresses her insecurities and admittance that she's not attractive, Arthur and Lisa have sex.

Don't you hate your mirror being fogged up after a hot shower?

This is a movie I had a tough time figuring out because I cannot relate myself into the situation of a middle-aged person being trapped with one voice from everybody thinking that you're somebody in which in mostly the whole world's case, you're not. When observing the everyday conditions of behavior, visual stimuli and auditory experience, it sounds like every microsecond of every micrometer is a therapy session as to how a person can navigate their life. What is the problem with him? Why is he like he is in the movie?

David Thewlis stands-out beautifully as a middle-aged, narcissistic family man and author that is spiraling out of control internally. The problem is he does not care. He is there solely for business. He  is at his own comfort zone where it revolves around his only universe until Lisa shows up. Jennifer Jason Leigh, who had a great year in 2015, gives Lisa a different character who is both exciting and insecure that she is so fascinating to observe and listen to. She's a normal human being having an affinity for Michael Stone. And, Tom Noonan really reaches the heights of commonality as he disguises everybody as himself.

Charlie Kaufman and co-director Duke Johnson has created a fascinating animated movie that is disturbing and honest and reaches the deep pits of our mind with conviction. It is proven in Kaufman's other works such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and Being John Malkovich. We are in another world and it is pinpointed intricately with stop-motion animation featuring puppet-human characters that provide a soul. It deserves the recognition of excellence for explore the psychology of a man whose narcissism costed him the price. The movie is hauntingly brilliant.

****