One of the best films I’ve seen all year is Charlie Kaufman and Duke Johnson’s stop-motion animated film Anomalisa. The movie follows Michael Stone (David Thewlis), an author and motivational speaker who’s own life lacks motivation until he meets Lisa (Jennifer Lason Leigh), who looks and sounds differently than everyone else.

This is a tough film to sell, and judging by this new trailer, it looks like Paramount is pushing the movie to make it look slightly more uplifting than it actually is. However, this means they’re also not spoiling the best moments or what makes the movie so special. It’s a bit of a bait and switch, but there’s no deceiving audiences with the gorgeous visuals, reminders about Kaufman’s popular past work, and trying to show the film’s deep sense of humanity even if it does skate around the flaws. It’s as good a trailer as one could make for a wonderfully complex and odd movie.

Check out the Anomalisa trailer below, and click here to read my review from TIFF. The film opens in limited release on December 30th, and also features the voice of Tom Noonan.

Trailer via Apple.

Here’s the official synopsis for Anomalisa:

Michael Stone, husband, father and respected author of "How May I Help You Help Them?" is a man crippled by the mundanity of his life. On a business trip to Cincinnati, where he's scheduled to speak at a convention of customer service professionals, he checks into the Fregoli Hotel. There, he is amazed to discover a possible escape from his desperation in the form of an unassuming Akron baked goods sales rep, Lisa, who may or may not be the love of his life. A beautifully tender and absurdly humorous dreamscape, from the brilliant minds of Charlie Kaufman (SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK) and Duke Johnson ("Community" episode, Abed's Uncontrollable Christmas), this stop-motion animation wonder features the vocal cast of Jennifer Jason Leigh, Tom Noonan and David Thewlis and a stirring strings-based score by Carter Burwell.