Mary and Max (2009)

Mary and Max (2009)

A unique claymation tear-jerker with voice-overs by Philip Seymour Hoffman and Toni Collette.

The Very Best

9.1

Movie

Australia
English, Yiddish
Animation, Comedy, Drama
2009
ADAM ELLIOT
Adam Elliot, Barry Humphries, Bethany Whitmore
92 min

What it's about

A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.

The take

Mary and Max is the tale of an overlooked 8-year-old girl from Australia starting an unlikely friendship via mail with a middle-aged Jewish man from New York. Shot completely in monocromatic claymotion, it is the first feature film by Australian stop-motion animation writer, Adam Elliot, and the first ever animated film to score the opening slot at Sundance Festival. In all its playful absurdity, Mary and Max is an emotional and wise gem of a film that examines the human condition through the eyes of a troubled child and an autistic American. In contrast to its clay-based animation, it deals with some pretty dark and adult themes, but succeeds in balancing those with happiness and absurd humor. Moreover, Elliott gathered an ensemble cast to do the voice-overs, which includes Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette, and Eric Bana. We recommend it 8 condensed milks out of 10.

Comments

Watch it if you’re in the mood of crying your eyes out and enjoy the feeling of your heart being ripped out of your chest.

I LOVE THIS MOVIE. I cried rivers while watching it.

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