Mary and Max

A Claymation Not For Kids

Director: Adam Elliot
Release Date: 2009
Rating: 15
Running Time: 90 mins
Genre: Dark Comedy/Drama/Claymation
Sarring: Phillip Seymore-Hoffman, Toni Collette, Eric Banna

'Where do babies come from?'

Though I've never been a massive fan of 'claymation' I did find 'Mary and Max' to be a very well crafted and imaginative film. The very unique and creative way that this film was crafted was able to capture our hearts in this very funny, yet devastating film of friendship, love and loneliness.

Transported to the peculiar world of claymation we begin in colourful land of Australia where we meet lonely, yet awfully sweet girl of 8 Mary (Toni Collette) wants to know where babies come from. Unable to retrieve answers from her alcoholic mother, Mary steals a page from a phone book and at random writes to a man living in New York, named Max (Phillip Seymore-Hoffman). Max lives in a world very different to Mary's, he lives in a colourless apartment in a colourless city and cannot bear to be near anyone else due to various anxiety issues and asperges syndrome. None the less Max chooses to reply to Mary's letter and they begin the start of their bizarre yet beautiful pen pal relationship. Taken through the film with narration from Barry Humphries and monologues of letters from the two protagonists, we see both Mary and Max begin to learn more about the world and themselves, truly inspiring. Constantly entranced by a beautiful piano score that uplifts the whole film, for me, I found this to be a particularly strong aspect of the film, as it really got the emotions going and was able to appear as though we were living in Mary's head.

Though at first glance it may look like a children s film I'd recommend it strictly for a more grown up audience . Though viewed as a comedy it is awfully sad and dark and will certainly leave you feeling a great deal of pity for the characters. What's so amazing is the way it will both warm and dampen your hearts simultaneously due to it's poignant and memorable story. Although the film didn't make me laugh as much as I had hoped, it did have it's moments and I still find it to be a truly mesmerising and soul enriching work of art.

Though maybe not the happiest of films, it does have it's moments of joy that stay with you.

6/10