Film Review: Mary and Max (Australia)

'Mary and Max' (2009) is an Australian animated film directed by Adam Elliot. The film revolves around Mary, an 8 year girl from Australia who is bullied because of her birth mark and in turn is very lonely and Max a 44 year old man from New York that is obese and has Asperger's Syndrome, which makes him anxious around people partially resulting in his loneliness.

(Fig 1: Movie Poster)

The film talks about lots of different themes and through the use of animation it makes it more palatable for audiences. For example, Mary's mothers alcoholism is presented in a slightly comedic way because it is being described by a naive 8 year old. Other themes range from suicide to Asperger's syndrome and the view people had on it at the time (70s-80s) The over arching theme of the whole film is Friendship, over the course of 20 years these two strangers become each others best friends and can understand one another loneliness and the effects of bullying. As previously mentioned if some of these themes were explored through the use of live action it would be a lot more difficult film to watch, but Claymation allows expressive animation as well as easier to watch without losing the impact of certain themes.

(Fig 2: Movie Still)

The film is made using Claymation allowing for Elliot to explore his ideas more openly, however this type of animation doesn't come without a price, it is painstakingly long and labour intensive especially on a film such as this. Elliot had this to say about the animation process " We could only afford six animators so the pressure was on for each of them to produce an average of five seconds per day" (Desowitz, 2009) Baring this in mind it makes this film all the more impressive and an achievement. The lack of a big budget means this film had no room for re shot's and had to nail it first time. 

(Fig 3, Movie Still)

Despite the animation acting as a way for audiences to enjoy the film without the themes of the film getting too much for the audience. However, this should not detract from story that Elliot wants to tell. Elliot had this to say " I try to make films with depth, substance; films that deeply engage, move and make the audience think." (Desowitz, 2009) This film indeed is an impactful one and you can really feel the depth of the film from this long friendship. We experience the growth of this friendship which spans over 20 years within one and a half hours. Overall, this film explores some deep themes, demonstrates great Claymation and is a film with worth watching again.

Bibliography:

Desowitz (2009): https://www.awn.com/animationworld/mary-and-max-elliot-and-clayography

Illustration List:

Fig 1, Movie Poster: https://vulpeslibris.wordpress.com/2013/02/13/mary-and-max-a-film-by-adam-elliott/

Fig 2, Movie Still: https://driveinzeppelin.com/mary-and-max/  

Fig 3, Movie Still: http://wallpapers.ae/mary-and-max-image.html