Cert 15
90 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong sex, sex references, strong language
Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa is strange and yet both compelling and beautiful.
Adult cartoons are now a part of the culture thanks to TV series such as South Park and Family Guy but I can't recall any as realistic in both the animation and subject matter as this.
It focuses on motivational speaker, Michael (voiced by David Thewlis), who has lost his sense of purpose.
So, on a business trip to Cincinnati, he searches for the love which he feels he is missing.
This manifests itself with a disastrous meeting with an old flame and then a one-night stand with a shy woman, Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who has travelled to see him speak.
Anomalisa is bursting with originality. Its most memorable feature is that every character, except Michael and Lisa, has the same voice (Tom Noonan's)
This was off-putting at first and prompted Mrs W and I to ask each other why Michael's wife and child both sounded like an adult man.
But then it became clear that this is a product of Michael's combination of frustration and ennui with the rest of the world. It is also why he falls instantly for Lisa - her natural voice is a symbol of her uniqueness.
Anomalisa won the Oscar for best animated feature film of the year and I can see why but it ought to be reported that this is not a movie for everyone.
Some will balk at its occasionally explicit content and think that it meanders too much (Michael's indecisiveness means that the movie does wander quite a lot).
However, I found the sex scenes both touching and funny and believed that the movie captured many of the insecurities which middle-aged men feel.
I can imagine women shouting that Michael should grow a pair and get on with life but everyone really knows that the fairer sex are more in control of themselves than feeble blokes.
Reasons to watch: a very different type of animation
Reasons to avoid: a meandering storyline
Laughs: four
Jumps: none
Vomit: none
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 8/10
Star tweet
Duke Johnson Promoting #Anomlisa on @Channel4News today in London but they were more concerned about #Drumpf#understandable