Director: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman. (90mins).
Animation
Synopsis
During a visit to Cincinnati, Mike (Thewlis), a motivational speaker for the customer service industry contacts his long-lost love, whom he inexplicably upped and left many years before. The meeting triggers an emotional breakdown for him as he suddenly realises he is stuck in life with no one he really loves and sets about desperately trying to remedy this.
Review, by Jason Day
Now here's something you won't see very often at the multiplex: a stop-motion animated film featuring a large number of figurines voiced by only three actors, about a motivational guru having an emotional breakdown.
Phenomenology doesn't usually feature in cinema so perhaps writer/co-director Kaufman's (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation) brave and much liked dive into the unknown is to be admired and welcomed as a departure from the norm.
There are certainly things to recommend with Kaufman's spot-on observations about human life, Leigh providing the sweetest, most hopeful of voices as the woman our main character attempts to turn his life around with and the animation and filming are stunningly well realised.
But (SPOILER ALERT!) be prepared people, for some serious puppet-loving! Two characters give into their marionette, baser instincts in all of its glory.
For more, see the full review: http://wp.me/p4tg3O-1RB
For listings for this and other films at Cineworld MK: http://www1.cineworld.co.uk/cinemas/milton-keynes
Cast & credits
Producers: Duke Johnson, Charlie Kaufman, Dino Stamatopoulos, Rosa Tran.
Writer: Charlie Kaufman.
Camera: Joe Passarelli.
Music: Carter Burwell.
Sets: John Joyce, Huy Yu.
David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan.
