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 But with an explicit sex scene between two of the puppets
about halfway through, it won't be one for the whole family.
Kaufman refuses to discuss what his films or screenplays are
about, but he and co-director and animation specialist Duke
Johnson told Reuters in an interview they can live with the U.S.
R-rating the film got because of the sex scene. It means viewers
under 17 years old must be accompanied by an adult.
"We're fine with that ... I mean we wanted to do it in a way
that was emotional because immediately people think puppets
having sex is a joke," Kaufman said in Venice, where the film is
competing for the top Lion d'Or prize.
"You know 'Team America' did it and it was done for a joke and
... it doesn't fit with our story to be that. It's an emotional
moment ... so we worked really hard to make it that, to make it
real and sensitive."
Kaufman, who wrote the screenplays for "Being John Malkovich"
and "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind", has not been a
presence in the cinema since he made his directorial debut with
the highly regarded but quirky "Synecdoche, New York" (2008).
He is making his return with this 90-minute film focusing on a
motivational speaker named Michael, who flies into Cincinnati
from Britain on a soul-sapping business trip.
Suffering from the type of identity crisis for which Kaufman
characters are famous, Michael meets up during his one-night
visit with an old flame, who has never gotten over him dumping
her, and a woman named Lisa, who has come to hear him speak and
who gives Michael new inspiration for life.
The film, which won favorable reviews at the Telluride Film
Festival, where it was shown before an official premiere in
Venice, is voiced by only three people.
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 Jennifer Jason Leigh ("Fast Times at Ridgemont High") is
Lisa, whom Michael decides to rechristen Anomalisa when he falls
for her.
David Thewlis (Remus Lupin in "Harry Potter") voices Michael and
Tom Noonan ("12 Monkeys" TV series) is everyone else -- from the
taxi driver who drives Michael to his hotel, to the receptionist, to
everyone, male and female, in the hotel bar and so on.
Having almost everyone in the world speak with the same voice is a
statement on who we are, and Kaufman allowed that identity, for him,
is a tricky business.
"It's not fixed, I don't think it is for anybody, you know? ... We
want to think we're this thing but we're kind of like constantly
shifting and depending on who we're with and what age we are and
even like at the same moment talking to different people in the same
room we become different people, you know? At least I do."
Noonan said portraying a huge range of characters with only his
voice was a challenge.
"In the movie you never see me, so I can't vary that far from my
normal sound so it's a little harder ... to communicate," he said.
But Leigh said she'd enjoyed doing voicings for a change and was up
for more.
"It's an art, it really is, there's an art to it and I'd love to do
more of it, actually. I found it really quite focused and deep and
there's something beautiful about it."
(Editing by Larry King)
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