Review of Mary and Max (2009) by Jean-Francois V — 31 May 2011
"Mary and Max" looks a little bit like a cross between a "Wallace and Gromit" movie and a Crumb comic. Though it is an animated film and its heroin is a little girl at the beginning, it is definitely not a children's film, dealing as it does with such themes as mental illness, alcoholism, suicide, homosexuality, manslaughter, divorce, atheism and death. Like "84 Charing Cross Road", the film is the story of a trans-oceanic correspondence, one of the two penpals being a New York Jew, except in this case, the Jew is not Anne Bancroft, but a forty-something obese recluse with Asperger's syndrome.
The content of the letters is slightly disturbing, with the grown man writing to the eight-year old girl about working in a condom factory and never having used condoms himself; about Catholic babies being born in eggs laid by nuns, and pagan babies being born in eggs laid by prostitutes; or about one of his favorite words being "testicles.".
This visually inventive and quirky film should appeal to fans of stop-motion animation and underground comics, or anybody interested in mental illness, as its portrayal of Asperger's, depression and agoraphobia is rather faithful.
This review of Mary and Max (2009) was written by Jean-Francois V on 31 May 2011.
Mary and Max has generally received very positive reviews.
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