Mary and Max

2009 cartoon

Rating: 17/20 (Jen: 16/20)

Plot: Lonely 8-year-old Australian Mary befriends lonely autistic Jewish New Yorker Max after randomly pointing to his name in a directory and writing him a letter. They have the Noblets and a love of chocolate in common, and apparently, that's enough. They're pen pals for twenty years.

So there's a glut of animated movies these days--the traditionally-animated, the computer-generated stuff, other styles like that disturbing rotoscope stuff used in The Waking Life and those commercials. My favorite, without a doubt, is claymation, and since Mary and Max is a beautiful example of that technique, you're probably going to wonder if there's some bias. Probably. However, I did watch this twice just to make sure. What I noticed the second time--there certainly is a lot of farting in this movie. So if you're a fan of both claymation and farting (I consider myself an aficionado of gassy emissions humor), you'll probably love this. It's more than just farting though. This is one of those types of animated flicks that captures humanity much better than actual actors can. Max tells us that humans are "complicated souls," and I just love how simply Adam Elliot's little movie describes the key to surviving in a really ugly world with some really ugly people--find somebody beautiful to cling to. The claymation is stunning and enhances the storytelling. The settings are stark, bringing the focus to the two characters. Mary's Australia is colorful but bleak, littered and scabbed and occasionally dangerous. Max's is bleaker because it's mostly without color, just splashes of red to interrupt the grays and darker grays. His New York is as grotesque as the big city in The Triplets of Belleville and humorously almost vacant. There's a homeless guy, a woman who zips by on a scooter a few times, and a punk rocker who reappears, but the New York streets are otherwise empty. Their worlds have ugly and mean in common, but their relationship, although borderline creepy/inappropriate, makes them livable. Mary and Max is insanely funny, filled with ideas that seem torn from Roald Dahl's notebooks and quirky Amelie-esque narration and tangents. Watching this a second time, I noticed a lot of funny little details. The movie is also very touching. There are holes in each of the characters' biographies, but you really get to know them in this intensely intimate way, and you feel their ups and downs deeply. I also appreciated the very realistic and touching portrayal of Aspergers. This is a beautiful looking and beautifully-constructed little movie that further supports my belief that 2009 was the best year for animated movies. As always, I've put almost no thought into that belief. I don't have to put much thought into whether I love this movie or not though.

My favorite scene has a mime in it.

One more 2009 animated feature to watch, the French A Town Called Panic that looks like it could be a religious experience.

5 comments:

  1. That was a great review of a great film. There is a whole lot of darkness in this very touching movie. The "Que Sera, Sera" scene was one of the most haunting I have seen, and I too loved the many little bits of humor (especially when the panhandler's cup reads "financial advice...50cents").

    I wish there could have been a little less narration, but "Mary and Max" is one of the most endearing and honest movies about human relationships that I have seen in a long time. A 17 for a very good recommendation of a film I may have never watched otherwise.

    Did you watch the animated short in the special features? It was also excellent.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Do you have another recommendation?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad you liked it...

    Jen didn't really like it much. She said she appreciated it, but I think she was annoyed by the quirkiness.

    That 'Que Sera Sera' seen was a tough one. And I thought what happened to put a stop to her attempt, although sort of goofy, was really touching. I was moved.

    I worried most about this recommendation because of the ending.

    I did watch the short...a little more on the crude(ly) animated side, but yeah, I liked it, too.

    Next recommendation: I keep forgetting if you've seen 'Aguirre: The Wrath of God,' a movie I'm watching again soon. If you have, then I might go with 'Bad Lieutenant' (the Herzog one with the brilliant Nic Cage) which I'm about to review...or 'Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors' which I know you haven't seen.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have seen and liked "Aguirre...". We can go with the other two. The "brilliant Nic Cage" is also in "Kick-Ass" which, although not a "five", I will be curious to hear your thoughts about. (was that even a correct sentence?)

    ReplyDelete
  5. It's a really awkward sentence...

    OK, I will stop recommending 'Aguirre'...this has to be the 12th time.

    Have you seen the original 'Bad Lieutenant'? You don't need to, but I was wondering...

    ReplyDelete