Mary and Max (2009), written and designed by Adam Elliot, is one of the greatest animations I think I have ever seen. It’s both funny and sad, and like Elliot’s Oscar winning short film ‘Harvie Krumpet’, manages to comment and highlight just what it means to be alive, all in just 90 minutes.
Mary Daisy Dinkle (voiced in her youth by Bethany Whitmore and Toni Collette in adulthood) is a girl living in Australia in the mid-70s with a birthmark on her face the colour of poo and only one friend in the world; a rooster named Ethel. One day she discovers a Manhattan phonebook and decides to write to a random name, hoping they will have the answers to the many questions troubling her. That random name is Max Jerry Horovitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a lonely man who spends his days attending over-eaters anonymous meetings and having panic attacks. Thus, an unlikely friendship is born.
The film manages to touch upon issues of bullying, love and loneliness through the pen-pal’s exchanges as well as indulging in stranger topics including Mary’s favourite words, Max’s favourite facts and their shared love of chocolate and TV show The Noblets.
Elliot manages to achieve both a sweet tone, largely thanks to the humorous narration by Barry Humphries, as well as delving into the darker side of life. Alongside an exploration of Asperger’s Syndrome, the film contains one of the most simple, unexpected and shocking moments that I have seen in a film in a long, long time.
As we drift between the dusty orange landscapes of Mary’s Oz and the gloomy shades of grey in Max’s New York, Mary and Max evolves into a truly life-affirming picture about the importance of friendship and left me wishing I had a pen-pal like Mary or Max, if only so that I could receive a chocolate Cherry Ripe and a list of favourite words that included banana, ointment and testicle. So if you’re not engaged in life-changing pen-pal relationship, and even if you are, do yourself a favour and watch Mary and Max, a film that makes Wallace and Gromit look like something from a poor episode of The Noblets.
Here is a link to Elliot’s Oscar winning short, Harvie Krumpet. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouyVS6HOFeo
If only we could all wait for a bus that never comes with as much verve as Harvie.
