Deeply Moulded

"Mary Dinkle's eyes were the colour of muddy puddles, her birthmark the colour of poo."

 Had a bit of an impromptu movie night the other night, or at least attempted to. I began with watching Don't Look Now on Netflix which I've wanted to see for ages. Unfortunately, 10 minutes in Netflix decided to disconnect itself and I couldn't continue to watch it. That was annoying and very disappointing so I'll have to just watch it another time. After that I watched this animated film called Mary and Max that I picked up a while back from one of those Blockbuster sales and hadn't watched yet. I'm always drawn to interesting looking animations and when I read the voice cast, I was sold. I finished with The Pit and the Pendulum with Vincent price which was a late Christmas present from my sister and then a couple of episodes of Bored to Death, Jason Schwartzman's new show that we just finished watching the first 2 seasons of and I highly recommend because it's hilarious (it also stars Zack Galifianakas). I now want to share a bit about Mary and Max.

Mary and Max (2009 Australia) is a clay animated flick for adults who seek a departure from the usual (but also wonderful) more Hollywood animations from Pixar/Dreamworks, etc. It's a film that follows the 20 year friendship between Mary (voiced by Toni Collette), a young girl from a small village in Australia and her pen pal Max (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) who is a middle aged, overweight Jewish man in New York with a penchant for chocolate hot dogs.

It feels very personal in it's depictions of these two people who are both so equally naive and unaware of how the world works, and is frankly, much darker than I expected it to be. It uses witty and comical childlike frankness to explore the deep issues of a depressed little girl and a sheltered, lonely man who suffers from Asperger's Syndrome. We see Mary's world through a sepia filter and Max's in black and white, both with touches of bright red here and there that give this film such visual impact. I am always so impressed with the amount of time and creation put into clay animation and when it's coupled with amazing characters and a great story, it's all the more impressive.

We watch as they discuss every topic imaginable, swapping assumptions they've made and lies they've been told about where babies comes from, how to handle bullies, "sexing", animal facts and more, each more hilarious and naive than the next. We see their lives unfold, through the ups and downs, and how the one piece of happiness that remains constant in their lives is their friendship with one another, the only place they've ever truly fit in. Delivering funny anecdotes, cute visual jokes and many emotional scenes, Mary and Max deserves a watch. It's funny, dark and endearing at the same time and a striking piece of animation.