Mary and Max

Mary is an Australian girl from Melbourne looking for friendship and love. On the other side of the world, in a tiny, shabby New York apartment, lives Max – a solitary, anxious, and overweight Jewish man with Asperger’s syndrome, who raises a goldfish named Henry VIII (it is not hard to figure out what happened to his seven predecessors). They gradually become pen pals and their friendship extends throughout their lives, giving both the chance to express their miserable existence in writing.  It took Adam Elliot five years and the collaboration of six animation teams to complete his first full-length film – not a soulless computer creation, but a film made in classic claymation stop-motion technique. Around the story of these two lonely and vulnerable people, he unfolds one of the most touching animated films you will get the chance to see. Mary and Max exude so much innocence that it is impossible not to get to know and empathize with them, and this is perhaps what contributes to the feeling of optimism you will have upon leaving the hall at the end of the screening. The palette of colors lingers in the grays and browns, with touches of powerful purple. But the thing that brings it all together is the feeling of spiritual elevation spiced with gentle humor.