Mary and Max
A tale of friendship between two unlikely pen pals: Mary, a lonely, eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max, a forty-four-year old, severely obese man living in New York.
Mary Daisy Dinkle, a lonely and overweight eight-year-old living in the suburbs of Melbourne, Australia, randomly picks a pen pal from a New York City phone book. Her new friend is Max Jerry Horowitz, a severely obese, forty-four-year-old Jewish man with Asperger's syndrome. What begins as a correspondence to alleviate their shared loneliness evolves into a lifelong, albeit unconventional, friendship that spans decades and continents.
Mary and Max was met with critical acclaim, praised for its unique stop-motion animation, dark humor, and poignant exploration of themes such as loneliness, friendship, mental health, and life's absurdities. While it was not a commercial success, it has garnered a devoted cult following and is considered by many to be a masterpiece of adult animation.
Google audience: Audiences lauded the film for its originality, heartwarming story, and unflinching portrayal of human connection and the challenges of mental health. Many appreciated its dark humor and distinctive visual style, finding it to be a deeply moving and memorable experience.
Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Won Best Independent Animation at the Australian Film Institute Awards.
The claymation used in the film required over 1,000 liters of paint to achieve the desired color palette, with the animators often mixing custom shades for specific scenes.
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