Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voices
11-19-08 | 05:18 PM
#1
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Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voices
According to Variety, this will open the 25th Sundance Film Festival on January 15th.
IMDB Synopsis:
It's nice to see good old-fashioned claymation in this age of CGI.
IMDB Synopsis:
A simple tale of pen-friendship between two very different people; Mary Dinkle, a little chubby lonely eight year old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horovitz, a 44 year old, severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger's Syndrome living in the chaos of New York.
01-16-09 | 04:55 PM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
/Film review:
I’ll admit it. I wasn’t really looking forward to the 2009 Sundance Film Festival opening night film Mary and Max. Rarely do I become involved in many animated features produced outside of the Pixar campus, and claymation has never really been my thing. But Mary and Max was something magical. It is the perfect film to start off the festival, because it is everything that Sundance would like to stand for. It’s handcrafted and so very unique that it would have been impossible for any studio and Hollywood to produce anything like it. They wouldn’t have the guts.
Adam Elliot’s film tells the story of a young Australian girl named Mary who begins a pen pal relationship with 44-year old overweight anxiety-ridden New York City resident named Max. But the film is much more than that. It’s an endearing story about two friendless outsiders who find themselves unable to connect with anyone in their vastly different worlds, but are somehow able to form the most innocent of friendships from thousands of miles away. The film deals with heavy issues like suicide, alcoholism, death, sex, and mental health.
It may be an animated movie but it’s certainly not suitable for children. The film has the dark humor you might expect from a biting R-rated indie dramedy, and the movie reaches levels of cleverness that most British comedies can only aspire to reach. Philip Seymour Hoffman delivers one of the best voice performances of recent years. I have enjoyed stop-animated movies in the past, but for the most part I have found them to be entertaining to watch, but not too involving. Mary and Max will not only make you care about characters transformed out of clay, but you will be transported into a wacky world of imperfection that feels as real as the best live-action features.
Mary and Max is the type of movie that you will see and recommend to at least 10 of your friends. You will not only be amazed that such a film could be created, but you will admire the heart and years of work that were clearly put into each frame. And none of it goes unnoticed.
Adam Elliot’s film tells the story of a young Australian girl named Mary who begins a pen pal relationship with 44-year old overweight anxiety-ridden New York City resident named Max. But the film is much more than that. It’s an endearing story about two friendless outsiders who find themselves unable to connect with anyone in their vastly different worlds, but are somehow able to form the most innocent of friendships from thousands of miles away. The film deals with heavy issues like suicide, alcoholism, death, sex, and mental health.
It may be an animated movie but it’s certainly not suitable for children. The film has the dark humor you might expect from a biting R-rated indie dramedy, and the movie reaches levels of cleverness that most British comedies can only aspire to reach. Philip Seymour Hoffman delivers one of the best voice performances of recent years. I have enjoyed stop-animated movies in the past, but for the most part I have found them to be entertaining to watch, but not too involving. Mary and Max will not only make you care about characters transformed out of clay, but you will be transported into a wacky world of imperfection that feels as real as the best live-action features.
Mary and Max is the type of movie that you will see and recommend to at least 10 of your friends. You will not only be amazed that such a film could be created, but you will admire the heart and years of work that were clearly put into each frame. And none of it goes unnoticed.
01-26-09 | 09:14 AM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
Mary and Max Trailer
EDIT: Looks like it's not letting me post the trailer here. You can find it here.
<embed src="http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/co003.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="556" height="452" swliveconnect="true" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" flashvars="e=4bffc0037b3a3a473a9a2f4e92ed7a23c70b2277d530099d1865f7dc06525b6c7b7d8e83cee9272d0972d8ff7b1c352fc7 fe84b9be8cf497f7c151d15b6be70b42aad76c19a8c97f9d849a5a5bd528e2267593dc&width=556&height=452&autostart=false&allowscriptaccess=always&usefullscreen=true&autoscroll=true&thumbsinplaylist=true&esnapshot=4dfed81f&trueurl=http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp"></embed>
EDIT: Looks like it's not letting me post the trailer here. You can find it here.
<embed src="http://cdn.springboard.gorillanation.com/storage/xplayer/co003.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="556" height="452" swliveconnect="true" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" flashvars="e=4bffc0037b3a3a473a9a2f4e92ed7a23c70b2277d530099d1865f7dc06525b6c7b7d8e83cee9272d0972d8ff7b1c352fc7 fe84b9be8cf497f7c151d15b6be70b42aad76c19a8c97f9d849a5a5bd528e2267593dc&width=556&height=452&autostart=false&allowscriptaccess=always&usefullscreen=true&autoscroll=true&thumbsinplaylist=true&esnapshot=4dfed81f&trueurl=http://www.collider.com/entertainment/news/article.asp"></embed>
01-26-09 | 11:29 AM
#4
Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
It's amazing how NoirFan can link directly to news and information without shilling a superfluous blog that no one cares about.
01-26-09 | 12:03 PM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
I always post all information on a particular story, giving no reason for anyone to actually go to the blog. I just post it there for a source. For some reason DVDTalk is not reading the embed code right on this particular trailer. If you can figure it out be my guest. Thanks!
01-26-09 | 07:45 PM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
<object width="450" height="398"><param name="movie" value="http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/8471"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.traileraddict.com/emd/8471" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" width="450" height="398"></embed></object>
Playback seems a bit choppy, but I'm on a slower computer right now. Here's the (non-blog) Trailer Addict link.
Playback seems a bit choppy, but I'm on a slower computer right now. Here's the (non-blog) Trailer Addict link.
04-04-09 | 12:45 AM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
11-06-09 | 10:21 AM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
i cannot believe nothing else has been posted about this film.
i just watched it last night and i went through so many emotions. i can't wait to watch it again and tell everyone i know about it. mary and max is one of those films that just comes out of nowhere and surprises the hell out of you. i would go as far as to put this in my top 20 films of all time, and i've seen thousands.
it would honestly be tough to choose between "mary and max" and "Up" if both were nominated for best animated feature. i think i'd have to go with "mary and max"... if you asked me last week, i would say give "Up" the best picture award.
10 out of 10.
i just watched it last night and i went through so many emotions. i can't wait to watch it again and tell everyone i know about it. mary and max is one of those films that just comes out of nowhere and surprises the hell out of you. i would go as far as to put this in my top 20 films of all time, and i've seen thousands.
it would honestly be tough to choose between "mary and max" and "Up" if both were nominated for best animated feature. i think i'd have to go with "mary and max"... if you asked me last week, i would say give "Up" the best picture award.
10 out of 10.
11-20-09 | 07:17 AM
#10
Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
This was a charming, interesting film with endlessly wonderful little details. My only issue was that I've seen a couple of Adam Elliot's other shorts (some of which I have embedded below). In these shorts, there was a different narrator, but the writing was very much the same, and I really liked the way the shorts were narrated (slightly somber, slightly wistful, and contemplative). The entire time, watching Mary and Max, I was distracted by how incredibly alike-yet-totally-different the narration styles were (the movie's narration is far more upbeat). The film also meanders a little bit (like Max's first letter; for a bit, it feels less like Elliot has graduated to feature films and more that he has glued two short films together, but it picks up later), and while I loved the score, I wish there was a little more of it.
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M6njuCt5-U4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M6njuCt5-U4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0LdzgOrhfGA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0LdzgOrhfGA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/M6njuCt5-U4&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/M6njuCt5-U4&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/0LdzgOrhfGA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/0LdzgOrhfGA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>
11-20-09 | 07:57 AM
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12-14-09 | 08:25 PM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
i cannot believe nothing else has been posted about this film.
i just watched it last night and i went through so many emotions. i can't wait to watch it again and tell everyone i know about it. mary and max is one of those films that just comes out of nowhere and surprises the hell out of you. i would go as far as to put this in my top 20 films of all time, and i've seen thousands.
it would honestly be tough to choose between "mary and max" and "Up" if both were nominated for best animated feature. i think i'd have to go with "mary and max"... if you asked me last week, i would say give "Up" the best picture award.
10 out of 10.
i just watched it last night and i went through so many emotions. i can't wait to watch it again and tell everyone i know about it. mary and max is one of those films that just comes out of nowhere and surprises the hell out of you. i would go as far as to put this in my top 20 films of all time, and i've seen thousands.
it would honestly be tough to choose between "mary and max" and "Up" if both were nominated for best animated feature. i think i'd have to go with "mary and max"... if you asked me last week, i would say give "Up" the best picture award.
10 out of 10.
Spoiler:
and yes it's superior to 'Up' IMO
Last edited by Giles; 12-14-09 at 08:27 PM.
12-15-09 | 09:54 AM
#13
Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
I gotta give a big thumbs up to this one as well. Very touching. Amazing level of detail. I liked this much better than Up and probably better than Coraline.
08-02-10 | 12:07 PM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
Fantastic.
I loved this thing.
Just watched it this week, and I've already watched it again. Terrific.
I loved this thing.
Just watched it this week, and I've already watched it again. Terrific.
08-09-10 | 08:26 AM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
looking forward to hearing the commentary track for the Animation Challenge this month.
08-09-10 | 11:08 AM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
Liked it, but damn if that wasn't one of the most depressing things I've ever seen in my life, which is why I can't recommend it abroad. Sure, it had an underlining message of hope, but it was filled to the brim with depression, trauma, suicide, abuse, mental illness, etc, etc that pretty much overtook the film.
04-17-14 | 12:58 PM
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Re: Mary and Max (Elliot, 2009): Claymation w/ Philip Seymour Hoffman & Eric Bana voi
I've always wanted to see this.
turns out its free on Amazon Instant Video, if ya got Prime.
turns out its free on Amazon Instant Video, if ya got Prime.
