Anomalisa (2015) or, Depressed Adult Male

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Lead character Michael Stone looks himself in the mirror dejectedly on this poster for Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa

Our protagonist Michael is a guru for the service industry and comes to Cincinnati to give a lecture but finds himself in a mentally disturbed state.

Anomalisa is an existential romance-drama written by Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York (2008)), based on his same-titled 2005 play, and co-directed by Kaufman and Duke Johnson (Mary Shelley's Frankenhole (2010-12)). It is made in fascinating, almost masochistically time-consuming stop-motion animation, which is carried out in very detailed and vivid fashion.
The story of Anomalisa is relentlessly downbeat; the theme of alienation dominates everything; the lighting, Michael's sudden infatuation with Lisa, a woman he meets in the hotel, and the day after. It takes place in a dispiriting tone of near futility in any kind of human relation, which is the feeling that encapsulates the overall very melancholic Anomalisa. It doesn't indicate that Kaufman has gotten any better, or lighter, mentally speaking.
Ultimately a question of temperament, taste and tolerance will decide whether you'll love Anomalisa to death or mostly shrug it off like a miserable cold, as was the way I more or less felt about it.

Related posts:

Charlie Kaufman: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life (writer)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (writer)
Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 5.6 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Anomalisa premiered 4 September (Telluride Film Festival, USA) and runs 90 minutes. In the play, David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan also played the parts and sat on different parts of the stage and didn't move, only interacting through dialog. The film version should be identical, only different in terms of its media and that the action actually takes place. The film started as a short film that got off as a Kickstarter campaign that gathered 400k $, enabling funding for it as a feature to come together. The puppets were created with a 3D printer, and production lasted for two years. Paramount bought the worldwide distribution rights after the film's Toronto screening. It opened #34 in 4 theaters to a 135k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked #18 in 573 theaters and grossed 3.7 mil. $ (66.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 321k $ (5.7 %) and France with 167k $ (3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Animation Oscar as the first R-rated animation to ever achieve this, but lost to masterpiece Inside Out. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, 4 Independent Spirit Awards, and was the first animation to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival. Anomalisa is certified fresh at 92 % with a 8.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Anomalisa?

You're Next (2011) - Wingard's terrific, genre-bending horror fan gift

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1 Time Film Excess Nominee:


Best Editing: Adam Wingard (lost to The Artist)

+ Best Horror Movie of the Year

A blurry, eerie poster for Adam Wingard's You're Next

An aging, affluent married couple's many children and their partners are invited to their remote mansion, - but someone has murdered the neighbors next door, and now the quarreling family are terrorized and violently attacked!

You're Next is the 6th film from great Tennessean filmmaker Adam Wingard (Autoerotic (2011)), written by Simon Barrett (Blair Witch (2016)).
You're Next has cool photography (by Andrew Droz Palermo (A Ghost Story (2017))) and effective editing (also by Wingard.) It is a smartly conceptualized slasher horror comedy with high pace, surprise twists and a through-going, neat unpredictability. It is made by people who obviously have fun with the genre, - and who also manage to make audiences have fun with their creation (and its brutal, more or less scary shenanigans.)
The point to You're Next may be that if you have a half-crappy family that's plagued by internal hatred, - you simply shouldn't bring them together.
SPOILER The film's Australian heroine Sharni Vinson (Bait (2012)) is super-cool in You're Next, (so is her creative - vicious - use of a blender!), and all of her co-stars seem totally game and capable here, too. You're Next is an extremely well-running, surprisingly solid and well-made movie. SPOILER The only thing in the plot that isn't really resolved is: why do the neighbors have to die? (As insurance against alarm, I guess.) The only questionable element, then, is the hunters writing 'you're next' in blood for their next victim, which is quite odd, if you try to make sense of it, but is also forgivable as the film's own frivolous invention, its quirk, its pizzazz.
The score, made by Mads Heldtberg (Teenage Cocktail (2016)), Jasper Lee (The Nobodies (2017)), Kyle McKinnon (Pop Skull (2007)) and Wingard, recalls John Carpenter scores, while plot elements share similarities with Night of the Living Dead (1968), Home Alone (1990) and more films.
You're Next clearly ranks among the year's best horror films and works both as a generational satire and a slasher-smelling blood bath.

Related post:

2011 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III] 

Wingard gives an interview about the film here

Cost: 1 mil. $
Box office: 26.8 mil. $
= Mega-hit
[You're Next premiered 10 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 94 minutes. The script came about due to Wingard's wish to make a home invasion movie, and was written with inspiration from Agatha Christie mysteries, screwball comedies and Mario Bava's Bay of Blood (1971). Shooting took place in Missouri for 4 weeks in March 2011, mostly in and around an antique home that had been standing empty for 12 years. Lionsgate bought the North-American and UK distribution rights for just 2 mil. $. The film opened and peaked at #6 to a 7 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it grossed 18.4 mil. $ (68.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 1.8 mil. $ (6.7 %) and Spain with 1.2 mil. $ (4.5 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 1.5/4 star review, very much opposite to this review and in-line with his poor appreciation and understanding of the horror genre in general. Wingard at the moment is announced to direct South-Korean movie remake I Saw the Devil as well as the coming, major tentpole movie Godzilla vs. Kong (2020). You're Next is certified fresh at 75 % with a 6.5/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of You're Next?