Mary and Max

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Dave S A heavy dose of existential angst is probably the last thing you’d expect when settling in for an exercise in Claymation, but that’s exactly what you’re going to get with Mary and Max…and, surprisingly, that’s not a bad thing. Mary is a young girl from Australia, tormented by her classmates, ignored by her father, and disillusioned by her troubled mother. Max is a middle-aged New Yorker who suffers from Asperger Syndrome, living a life of solitude in his squalid apartment. When the two start an unlikely pen pal relationship, they begin to find meaning in their otherwise meaningless lives. The characters are well-defined, the stop motion animation is as good as it gets, the writing is insightful, and the voice work of Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman is subdued and impactful throughout. While it’s not exactly uplifting, it leans towards inspirational, but never in a soppy way, and is well worth checking out. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 05/23/24 Full Review Logan D A lonely adolescent girl reaches out to a random person in New York and finds Max, a Jewish atheist, and become pen pals. A remarkably human story of love, life, and friendship. I had no idea that was Hoffman but so happy to enjoy one more performance by the late actor. It's a bleak tale populate with the flavor of reality. Very heavy for an animated film. Highly recommended. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 04/19/24 Full Review Kyle M Stop-motion Claymation are considerably jewel gems with dedicated patience in the painstaking craft, boosting the storyteller's compelling directorial vision as realized magnum opus. This unique caricature-designed dramedy provides generally charming flair over its societal satire with amusing observations balanced with harsh reality and heartened by the well-cast performances, even if mildly accepted whilst discomforted over its occasional bleakness and uncanny weirdness. (B+) Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 04/11/24 Full Review Gunter M A genuine work of art! Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/21/24 Full Review Kenji T I watched this sick at 1am and it had me in tears by the end. Rated 4.5/5 Stars •  Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/24 Full Review X O What a complex and sad film. I live in Australia and I totally get how the director writer has shown what Australia is like. Life can be that empty for most people. Especially in Melbourne and Victoria. It's so sad. It's also a tragedy even in the film that Max can be so irate that someone would write a book about him and hope to solve Asperger syndrome. One would think they would be honoured. It's so sad. It's also incredible how much work went into this film. That doing it and stop motion takes so much longer than with actors. Maybe it was cheaper but the cast is international. Maybe they did it more out of love than money. I read it took more than a year just for the stop motion graphics alone. It's an incredible amount of work. But it's so sad. Just so sad. This emptiness of life. For so many people. Asperger's or not. Just so sad. Five stars without a doubt for the work that went into it. But it's just so sad. So meaningless. After all that. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 12/30/23 Full Review Read all reviews

Mary and Max

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