Thoughts on Mary and Max

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 11:05 PM By Simon

-An 8-year-old Australian girl and a 44-year-old American, Aspergers-inflicted man correspond over 22 years.

-This really is a lovely film. That's the only way to describe it. The claymation is astonishingly detailed, right down to the colors--Mary's Australia is a yellow tint inplying pre-Oz Dorothy's Kansas, while Max's New York is almost Sin City -ish, gorgeous black-and-white with touches of red.

-Meanwhile, the plot--in which the two people, both lonely and friendless but for each other, send letters that go from funny to heartbreaking, as their lives carry on in rather depressing ways--is engaging and genuinely sweet, without going into fucking twee.

-Philip Seymour Hoffman makes me wish they gave Oscars for voice actors. I mean, Toni Collette is good too, but Hoffman is just brilliant, with his old-timer stereotypical voice that one would expect to fit a grouchy old man, but (ugh, descriptions) perfectly captures the character, this anxious, emotionally emotionless, simple guy, y'know?

-Watch it, my sirs.

5 comments:

Michael said...

That's it. This just went to the top of the Netflix queue. I'm a big animation buff from way back, and I'm always thrilled when a non-studio production breaks through in the full-length feature form. I also notice this just broke into the IMDB top 250, so my curiosity is peaked.

August 11, 2010 at 6:39 AM
Chris said...

A friend of mine has asperger, and recommended me Adam (2009), which is very realistic and warm-hearted.

Never heard of Mary and Max before, but might give it a shot since you are recommending.

BTW, you can see Harvie Krumpet, a 20 min animation by same director here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSJVl24LRtk&NR=1

August 11, 2010 at 10:57 AM
Colin Biggs said...

Last year was outstanding for animated films.

August 11, 2010 at 11:13 AM
Amir said...

this movie was one of my favorites last year.
it's funny how it was completely overlooked when the animation category had a couple of unexpected titles that weren't nearly as good.

August 11, 2010 at 3:59 PM
Alex said...

I loved this movie even though it made me super depressed. Adam Elliot likes to do that.

August 12, 2010 at 10:46 AM