In 2015, Charlie Kaufman wrote and directed his first animated film. Nearly a decade later, Anomalisa remains one of the more underrated works in both his already essential filmography and the field of animation itself. Working with his co-director and stop-motion animation specialist Duke Johnson, the filmmaker revealed how our lives can become defined by a frightening sameness even when we are seeking an escape from it. The same can be said about the movie industry itself, but Kaufman's many visions have always found a way to launch themselves into bold new territory.
His latest, Orion and the Dark, is not quite on the same level as Anomalisa. For one, Kaufman is only writing the script this time around, as longtime animator Sean Charmatz makes his feature directing debut. On top of that, the story is based on the children's book of the same name by Emma Yarlett. While Kaufman is no stranger to writing a film based on already existing material (including in often subversive ways like with 2002's Adaptation), he has not done so for something geared toward children. Thus, for anyone expecting something like his other recent Netflix film, I'm Thinking of Ending Things, it needs to be made clear at the start that this is much more standard fare. There are echoes of the dream logic he explored in 2004's Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but it is wrapped up in a more digestible package for younger audiences. At the same time, Kaufman still brings much to the experience as he peers into the literal darkness.
Namely, this is because Orion and the Dark is a story about stories. In this case, it involves a young boy who is scared of a great many things, but mostly the dark. When Orion (voiced at a younger age by Room's Jacob Tremblay) meets Dark himself (voiced by I, Tonya's Paul Walter Hauser), he gets whisked away on an adventure through said darkness. It is here he'll discover the other night entities that are responsible for its terror and — just as importantly — its beauty. Sprinkled throughout are moments that interject into the unfolding narrative as we see the older Orion (voiced by Fargo's Colin Hanks) trying to reflect on these past fears via a story so he can help his daughter process her fears. Of course, we'll see that she may actually be the one who is the one helping him.
For any who've seen his 2008 masterpiece Synecdoche, New York, you'll know that this type of framing and layers of storytelling is more than familiar territory for Kaufman. Predictably, Orion and the Dark is not quite as unrestrained as that and plays around with more familiar narrative elements. Namely, as has become a trend in modern animation, it attempts to find humor by turning its many magical elements into something more like a job. Where this juxtaposition has grown rather tiresome elsewhere, Kaufman teases out plenty of clever and heartfelt humor from it. Much of this comes from not just better writing in the small character moments, but a broader willingness to make darker existential jokes rather than recurring superficial winks to the adults who are watching.
Though the animation is not quite as accomplished as Kaufman's writing, with some of the character designs proving to be slightly more ordinary and less imaginative than the style of the original book, this can't fully dull the vibrant emotional impact that is created. The ending shifts from being more effectively sentimental, with the reading of a poem slowing things down to land an emotional gut punch, to being more unexpectedly silly when we realize that a young kid has taken the wheel of the story.
It almost feels like the writer is talking to himself throughout the film, with one line about the critical importance of truth in storytelling shining bright in the dark. What gives Orion and the Dark its spark is how Kaufman never forgets the way in which thoughtful stories can transcend generations. In a world that can be dark and scary, no matter what age you are, life is just about enjoying the night while you can. For Kaufman, this ensures, when it's time to face the greatest darkness of them all, it might just be a little less scary.
Orion and the Dark
