Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan.

Individuality must be considered as sacred, it is surely a fundamental law of humanity that to be different to everyone else, to feel connection to everyone by being dissimilar in thought, deed and drive, is a right worth preserving; when someone says to you, why can’t you be like x, that is the road to conformity that is to be avoided and heralded as the start of being a faceless and unthinking drone.

It is in finding the individual, the free thinker to whom society might shun because they see a circle when everybody sees a square, that must be celebrated and exhaustibly remembered, for whilst society is good, it allows compassion to be fostered, it can also demand that you don’t stand out from the crowd, that you must be the same as them and down that route lies madness and the possibility of extremism to be nurtured.

In Charlie Kaufman, the idea of the individual is arguably sacrosanct, and in his latest film, Anomalisa, that individuality is tested, conformity shunned and subtly embraced and the idea that underneath the mask of spirited uniqueness we show to the world, our fears of not being the same, of being seeing as aloof, odd, unattractive or not a person in which to be alone with lest we are thought of as mad, is one that rises to the forefront of the audience’s mind; searching for what makes someone stand out and special is a full time endorsement that many don’t like to spend time doing.

The relatively small cast for such an endeavour is absolutely perfect, a mark of true professionalism by all three actors that they convey wonderfully the fears, hopes and despair of conformity and uniqueness with human eccentricity that goes beyond such re-enactment in the world of animated puppetry; it is that touch of brilliance that gives meaning to being human, even when there is no human to be seen on screen.

Occasionally disturbing, sometimes thoughtfully brutal, Anomalisa nevertheless is fascinating, the allure of seeing yourself as the only individual left until you too rip off the mask so carefully placed, a treat for the senses; it is a film that conveys truth in such a way that could not be captured with same depth of feeling if told with true-life action and a cast that didn’t believe in the vision set out by the writer.

Visually attractive, Anomalisa is the embodiment of all that is human. A very good film that invites the audience to understand themselves more than it requires to be understood itself.

Ian D. Hall