WHO would have thought that an animated film featuring nothing but the voices of real people would be one of the most human stories of the year?

In a typically convention-breaking and insightful feature, Being John Malkovich writer Charlie Kaufman returns with Anomalisa.

The film, based on Kaufman's 2005 play, sees customer service expert Michael Stone visiting Cincinnati in Ohio to promote his latest book at a convention.

He feels crippled by his mundane life and at odds with his distant wife and selfish son.

But his decision to call an old flame from his plush but lonely hotel room sparks a series of events which leads him to Lisa.

The pair find solace in each other when they are both at a low ebb.

What makes Kaufman and stop-motion animation specialist Duke Johnson's film so powerful is that it is incredibly perceptive.

Anomalisa feels both unreal and real at the same time as everything apart from the animated style highlights the universal truths of western 21st century life – and therefore magnifies it.

Michael's anxieties, fears and frustrations are laid bare and most of us have all felt as he does at one point or another.

Another clever trick is that Anomalisa only features three voice actors.

There is Michael (David Thewlis) and Lisa (Jennifer Jason Leigh) while Tom Noonan voices every other character in a deliberately monotone style.

This provides an unsettling twist on the romantic notion that a couple can sometimes feel like the only two people in the world.

Of course, it would not be a Kaufman feature without it turning a little strange and subject to interpretation but Anomalisa has to be one of the most original films of 2016.

DAVID MORGAN