“What is it to be human, what is it to ache, what is it to be alive?”
This is not a film for a breezy Sunday review. Writer Charlie Kaufman (Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) and Duke Johnson (Moral Orel, Frankenhole) present the story of author Michael Stone, who, while scheduled to speak at a convention, confronts how paralyzingly mundane his life really is. The film is purportedly darkly comedic (I found it a bit more dark) and surreal (on that I wholeheartedly agree) but outside the likes of Wes Anderson’s films its rare to see stop motion of this caliber in mainstream or even indie film and I found the look of it mesmerizing. The film’s producers raised over $400k on kickstarter and California based Starburns Industries supported its own mission to “create a workspace that gives the support and freedom to original and creative people to make content that is funny, strange, sad, and beautiful.” by producing this memorable film.