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Monday, January 24, 2011

Mary and Max

Mary and Max is a 2009 Australian clay-animated feature film directed and written by Adam Elliot. The voice cast included Philip Seymour HoffmanToni ColletteEric BanaBethany Whitmore, with narration by Barry Humphries. The film premiered on the opening night of the2009 Sundance Film Festival.[2] The film won the Annecy Cristal in June 2009 from the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, and Best Animated Feature Film at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in November 2009.



Plot

Mary Daisy Dinkle is a lonely 8-year-old living in Mount Waverley, a suburb of Melbourne, Australia in 1976. Her mother Vera is a slovenly alcoholic, and her father Noel is a stoictaxidermy enthusiast. Mary is plain and bespectacled, and her only friend is her pet rooster. Mary was told by her late grandfather that babies are found in the bottoms of beer glasses. Wondering how babies are born in America, she decides to write to an American to find out. She picks a name randomly out of the phone book: Max Jerry Horowitz.
Max is an overweight, 44-year-old New York City resident. He has odd mannerisms that make it difficult for him to relate to others. He lives in a small apartment with an assortment of pets, and his only socialization is his weekly Overeaters Anonymous meetings. He receives Mary's letter, which tells him about herself, and includes a small self-portrait and a chocolate bar. At first confused by the letter, he decides to write back. He tells Mary of his strange daily observations, and answers her question (Max's mother had told him that babies come from eggs that are hatched by rabbis if you are Jewish, Catholic nuns if you are Christian, and prostitutes if you are an atheist).
Max and Mary continue to exchange letters, offering creative solutions to each other's problems, and contemplating the confusion of everyday life. Mary struggles with self-esteemissues, and is too shy to speak to her neighbour Damian, on whom she has a crush. Max wonders about the strange people he encounters, and why no one seems to understand him. Max begins to get anxiety attacks when he receives letters from Mary, and one is severe enough to land him in a psychiatric hospital for eight months. He is unable to write to Mary for these eight months, and she is devastated at the unexplained loss of her friend.
Max is finally released, and writes to explain to Mary why he wasn't able to stay in touch with her. When he writes her, he explains that he was diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, and that it causes him to see the world in a different way than most people. Mary is overjoyed to hear from Max again, and begins to study disorders of the mind to learn more about his condition. They keep in touch regularly.
Several years later, he wins the lottery which allows him to complete the last two of his three life's goals (making a friend, a lifetime supply of chocolate, and the full collection of the "Noblets" cartoon characters). Mary is a teenager and still writing to Max. Mary's retired father dies in an accident, and leaves his daughter enough money to pay for university. Mary majors in psychological disorders, hoping to find a cure for Max's problem. Her crush, Damian, attends the same university, but Mary is still shy. Her mother dies a year later (from accidentally drinkingembalming fluid in a drunken stupor). Mary bonds with Damian, who comforts her, and they eventually marry.
Mary conducts promising research in the field of mental disorders, and even publishes a book on the subject. She sends Max the first copy, but he is outraged and confused at the exploitation of his condition. He expresses his anger to Mary, who shreds the entire printing of her novel and ends her career before falling into a deep depression. After developing a drinking habit and enduring months of sadness, Mary loses interest in her former passions. She apologises to Max, and waits anxiously to receive a letter of forgiveness. Instead, she finds a letter from Damian telling her that he is leaving her for his penpal, a New Zealand sheep farmer named Desmond. Mary attempts suicide, unknowingly pregnant with Damian's child. Miraculously, she is saved at the last minute by her elderly neighbour, a World War II veteran, who conquered his agoraphobia just in time to knock on the door to notify Mary that she has a package. He saves her life, and she discovers that the package contains Max's entire Noblets collection, which he sent as a sign of his forgiveness. Her depression finally begins to lift.
A year later, Mary and her baby travel to New York to visit Max at long last. Mary enters Max's apartment and finds him dead, sitting on the couch and staring up at the ceiling with a content expression. After the initial shock, Mary looks upwards and sees every letter she had written to Max, laminated and taped to the ceiling. Realizing he had died while happily looking at her letters, Mary weeps with joy and sadness for her only friend.

[edit]Cast

[edit]Themes

The film deals with themes including childhood neglect, teasing, loneliness, autism (Asperger's Syndrome in particular), depression and anxiety.[4]

[edit]Production

According to the opening credits, the film is based on a true story. In an interview given in April 2009, writer-director Elliot clarified that the character of Max was inspired by "a pen-friend in New York who I've been writing to for over twenty years."[5][6]
Principal photography lasted over 57 weeks, using 133 separate sets, 212 puppets, and 475 miniature props, "including a fully functioningUnderwood typewriter which apparently took 9 weeks to design and build."[7]

[edit]Music

The music in the film features Simon Jeffes and the Penguin Cafe Orchestra's "Perpetuum Mobile" (the opening theme) and "Prelude and Yodel", as well as "Russian Rag" by Elena Kats-Chernin. The closing-credits music is "A Swingin' Safari" by Bert Kaempfert and his Orchestra.

[edit]Reception

Mary and Max received generally very positive reviews.[9][10][11] As of 2010, 94% (48 of 51) of the critics at the film review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes rate Mary and Max fresh, with two of the four "Top Critic" reviews agreeing.[12]
Matt Ravier, writing for In Film Australia,[7] said the "story is paper-thin and some stretches of it are simply too long, yet whenever the narrative thread threatens to tear the sheer authenticity and bold honesty of the characters save the day." The Los Angeles Times called it a "remarkable and poignant" film depicting a "film noir world of blacks, whites and grays for Max and a sepia suburbia for Mary."[13]
After the film was released on DVD in the United States, Slant said "Adam Elliot's dry wit is pervasive throughout Mary and Max and it's nice to see that this unique sense of humor extends to the extras. The writer-director gives a funny and informative audio commentary and a set of hilarious making-of episodes reflects the sardonic tone of the production. The big prize here, however, is the addition of Elliot's Oscar-winning short Harvie Krumpet. This Geoffrey-Rush-narrated tale of the titular Tourrette syndrome sufferer is a wonderful introduction both to Elliot's sensibilities and to Mary and Max's specific tone."[14]

[edit]Box office

Mary and Max was the first Australian film of 2009 to gross over a million dollars,[15] eventually grossing $1,444,617 at the box office in Australia,.[16]
The film received no general theatrical release in the United States, though it was showcased at several American film festivals,[17] and was briefly shown at one of the Laemmle Theatres in the Los Angeles area.[13] The film's U.S. distributor (IFC Films) made the film available through video on demand.[14]
The film was released in France by Gaumont and in Germany by MFA to significant critical and box office success.[18][19]

[edit]Awards

It was awarded the Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the 2009 Ottawa International Animation Festival.[20] and the "Cristal" Grand Prize for Best Animated Feature at the French Animation Festival of Annecy.[21] The film was also shortlisted for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature at the 82nd Academy Awards, but was ultimately not nominated. Mary and Max was commended in the Best Australian Film category in the Australian Film Critics Association awards for 2009. The film won the Asia Pacific Screen Award for the Best Animated Feature Film 2009.[22]

[edit]Related exhibition

An exhibit of artifacts [disambiguation needed] and clips from the film were presented in France and Australia. In France the exhibition was hosted by Gaumont as part of the release.[18]



In Australia initially at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image for three months starting in March 2010.[23] and then touring around Australia throughout 2010/2011

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