“Our time is limited. We forget that.”

Note: Inspired by Matt Zoller Seitz, I’m trying something new. I’m going to write for 30 minutes and then post what I’ve done. In reality I’ll likely write for 20 minutes and then do some quick editing for a few minutes before I post. Generally the idea is plonk away for 30 minutes and then hit post – for good or for ill. Ready, set, go…

I recently saw Charlie Kaufman’s latest film, ANOMALISA. Typically, when I see a film that leaves me as uncomfortable and as moved as this one did, I’ll immediately fire up my lap top and click my way across the Internet to suss out as much as I can about what I’ve just watched: who made it, what are professional critics sayings, what do film scholars have to say. Before I head down that path – and I know I will – this go round I find myself wanting to sit with it a bit longer before I let the ideas and opinions of others permeate my thoughts.

As is my preference, I went into the theatre knowing very little about the film. I knew it was Kaufman’s Kickstarter-project, I knew it was stop-motion animation, and I knew that Jennifer Jason Leigh voiced a female character. That’s it. I suppose as a fan of all Kaufman’s films, I also knew that I was in for a story that puts the rawness of the human condition up on the screen, front and centre.

And Kaufman once again delivered. ANOMALISA is extraordinary. It is complex and haunting and achingly human. Not only that, the medium is essential. The stop-motion animation is central to this story and its characters. Thanks to the expansive creative freedom inherent in stop-motion animation, Kaufman shares with the audience a deeply personal snapshot of Michael Stone’s life. One night. One day. The story follows one man and how an unexpected voice down a hotel hallway can break through the numbing static of the flat sameness of the everyday.

Addendum: Whoa. I feel rusty. And 30 minutes is no where near long enough for me to capture what I want to say about this film. But when it comes to new writing exercises, rules are rules.