2009 | Australia | English | 35mm |
Comedy, Drama, Stop motion

Director and Writer: Adam Elliot
Producer: Melanie Coombs
Cast: Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman,
Barry Humphries and Eric Bana, 

Spanning 20 years and 2 continents, MARY AND MAX tells of a pen-pal relationship between two very different people: Mary Dinkle (Collette), a chubby, lonely 8-year-old living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia; and Max Horovitz (Hoffman), a severely obese, 44-year-old Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome living in the chaos of New York City.

As MARY AND MAX chronicles Mary’s trip from adolescence to adulthood, and Max’s passage from middle to old age, it explores a bond that survives much more than the average friendship’s ups-and-downs. Like Elliot and Coombs’ Oscar® winning animated short HARVIE KRUMPET, MARY AND MAX is both hilarious and poignant as it takes us on a journey that explores friendship, autism, taxidermy, psychiatry, alcoholism, where babies come from, obesity, kleptomania, sexual differences, trust, copulating dogs, religious differences, agoraphobia and many more of life’s surprises.

Official site:
http://www.maryandmax.com/

• Opening Film at 2009 Sundance International Film Festival
• Best Feature at 2009 Annecy International Animation Festival
• Crystal Bear at 2009 Berlin International Film Festival

“MAX is based on my pen friend in New York, whom I have been writing to for over twenty years. He is such an interesting person and the creation of this film will be a testimony to him and the archetypical underdog that so many audiences around the world engage with. He, like Max, has Asperger’s and I have spent a long time researching this syndrome. My aim is to not just enlighten the world to ASPIES, but to demystify the many misconceptions others have about these people (even the so-called experts)…” - Adam Elliot

“An achingly beautiful character study of an enduring friendship.” - SBS Films, Australia

“…another bold example of adult storytelling through animation.” - Screen Internationa
 
back to Animation Nation 09 main page....