Thoughts on Mary and Max
-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.
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5 comments:
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.
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
Last year was outstanding for animated films.
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.
I loved this movie even though it made me super depressed. Adam Elliot likes to do that.
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