Santa Fe Film Fest: Strange Love

We caught two offerings at the Santa Fe Film Festival (which is struggling to revive its glory days of a decade ago); look for them in theaters after the first of the year.

ANOMALISA (B+) - From the mind of Charlie Kaufman comes this stop-action-animation downer about loneliness and the human ache for the love of another, a seeming meta-mix of his earlier milestone movies "Being John Malkovich" and "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind."

It's best to know little or nothing about the movie in advance. David Thewlis voices Michael Stone, a positive-thinking author who specializes in customer service, but who stumbles when it comes to making personal connections with others. Everyone he interacts with during a conference he is to speak at -- the cabdriver who picks him up, the hotel clerk, the waitress -- all seem the same. (There's a neat trick Kaufman employs here that gradually becomes apparent to the viewer, an effect that evolves from odd to comic to melancholic.) Even his wife's voice on the phone seems indistinct.

Michael is stirred from his slump when he meets a fellow hotel guest, Lisa (voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh), a frumpy, scarred naif who is a fan of his books. Michael sets out to seduce her. What follows is a sweet yet unsettling weekend affair, an opportunity to awaken inner love and lust, however fleeting. Kaufman is making a statement about isolation, but he's also penetrating the politics of relationships, highlighting the dangers (and comforts) of always reverting to the same type.

Why animate this? Who knows why Kaufman -- who'd been quiet since his last mind-altering film, "Synecdoche, N.Y." -- does what he does. The technique (with help from a co-director, 30-something Duke Johnson) takes a few scenes to get used to, but it eventually becomes second nature. Kaufman even pulls off a rather tender and -- believe it or not -- authentic sex scene that, luckily, only barely brings to mind the hilarious puppet porn from "Team America: World Police."

And Kaufman is at his funniest since "Malkovich." When the cabdriver offers some advice for day trips around Cincinnati, Michael balks at going to the zoo, fearing it might take all day. Not to worry, the cabbie assures him, "it's zoo-sized." Later in the film, we see a billboard for the zoo, featuring the cabdriver's visage and the tag line "It's zoo-sized!" At a key moment, an a cappella version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun" lingers just long enough for a satisfying belly-laugh.

The film ramps up slowly, as if traipsing uphill, and then it takes off at the midway point. It wraps up rather abruptly, but -- if you've ever reached out to another and feared failing spectacularly -- the story will haunt you for weeks.

MEN & CHICKEN (A-minus) - This wildly absurd film from Denmark is both deeply touching and darkly funny.

Mads Mikkelsen and David Dencik star as Elias and Gabriel, two quirky brothers who learn, after their father's death, that their true biological father is another man who lives on the island of Ork, population just a few dozen. Elias, who is hypersexualized, and Gabriel, a dull university professor, set out on a mission to track down this man, who was a scientist shunned by the scientific community. On a farm, they discovery three bizarre step-brothers (similarly hare-lipped). living in a ramshackle farmhouse where chickens, pigs and other animals roam free and a majestic bull inhabits an attached barn.

It turns out that each brother has a different mother, and each man is more goofy than the other, with barnyard manners and zero social skills. They are overly protective of the father, who is said to be sickly and bedridden. The mystery deepens when Elias and Gabriel grow curious about a basement laboratory (also off-limits to the visitors) and the nature of the experiments that made their father a pariah.

Again, knowing too much about this film will ruin the joy of discovering its charms. Mikkelsen, so good in "The Hunt" and known to TV audiences as "Hannibal," is a regular in the films of writer/director Anders Thomas Jensen going back 15 years. Mikkelsen here is completely comfortable acting rather silly, a bit like Jeff Daniels in "Dumb & Dumber." Not to compare the two movies. This one has depth and heart and a message to convey about family and community and the hubris of man.

The pace and writing call to mind another unorthodox, deadpan Danish film, "Wilbur Wants to Kill Himself," Lone Scherfig's gem from 2003. "Men & Chicken" is a unique and special experience.