Anomalisa | a film that is an anomaly; unusual and different.

What if everything around you is fake, boring, dull, bland, the same, repetitive, monotonous, routine, mechanical, formulaic, empty and artificial?

“On the occasion of the film's 10th anniversary and the founding of Vancouver's 'Run N Gun' film festival, I'll be exploring a bit, one of my favorite films in independent cinema.”

There are two films that are considered independent within Charlie Kaufman's filmography Synecdoche, New York (2008) and Anomalisa (2015). But here we are going to focus on the more recent one. Not because one is better than the other, but because Synecdoche NY is much more grandiloquent and complex, full of layers and in my opinion the most ambitious.

Anomaliza is a small project, born from a theatrical play; that at first, Charlie himself refused to adapt it to film.

Small in production and narrative scale but not in its quality and introspective intent

Taking advantage of the reach of the Internet at first the project was financed by small independent contributions, part of the funding was obtained through a Kickstarter campaign which is a crowdfunding, micro-patronage or crowdfunding, rather than the big Hollywood studios.

Written by Charlie Kaufman and co-directed with stop-motion specialist Duke Johnson, they manage to create a peculiar and original film with a very distinctive style and a narrative approach that moves away from the convention of more commercial animated films, talking about complex issues such as loneliness and perception, aligning it with the concept of independent cinema.

..A film in a similar style to the other indie film: Memoirs of a Snail 2024.

Perhaps the greatest advantage of indie cinema is to maintain the creative and independent character of the work.

.The irony that is defined by the freedom that comes from not having a big budget and above all not being dependent on a big film studio.

Anomalisa is a small piece of art that is more concrete and concise in its messages than Synecdoche, New York, which is an indecipherable labyrinth like life itself. But it's a good start to delve into this 'terrifyingly honest' world of Charlie Kaufman.

It is refreshing how (at least at the beginning) you feel that same sensation you had watching 'Lost in translation' (another hotel movie), in which together with Charlotte we find in that Pandora's vase that is Tokyo, uncertainty and loneliness, but at the end there is a small almost infinite glimmer of hope... but in the universe that Kaufman gives us, in the end there is nothing. We have to look elsewhere for hope.

Dave Calhoun wrote: “Here's what you imagine would have happened if Charlie Kaufman had taken over Up in the Air or Lost in Translation.”

Maybe what you see on the outside is just your own reflection.

Michael Stone is a successful character in his work as a customer service speaker, motivational and inspirational, but at the same time in his personal life he is a real mess, a guy lost and isolated from the world; so much so that everyone around him has the same voice and the same face. Apparently the story seems to tell about that sublime moment in which appears that goddess of Venus embodied in a humble Cinderella (Lisa) who dreams of that prince charming, (not like those who have hurt her in the past), seems to be that opportunity to dive into that oasis of meeting a vulnerable woman, young and above all different from the women who have passed through your life, which takes you momentarily out of the routine of your boring life.

More than that idyllic tale of "- seize the moment", or "-life is only one", it is a slap in the face for you as a spectator wanting to romanticize your conscience so that you wake up from your airs of grandeur and realize how stupid you are believing you are unique, special and different; like a 50 year old teenager. Because, I'm sorry; but the mediocre, boring, empty and artificial one is not the world, it's you.