It’s easy to see why Adam Elliot’s claymation feature, Mary and Max – which had its Toronto premiere at Bloor Cinema this Friday – appealed to so many critics, even though it left me with mixed feelings. The quirky humour, the adorable protagonists, and the intense emotional turmoils are the stuff to win over the audiences. I felt compassion towards most of the characters, and enjoyed the creative production of the film, but I also thought that the tone and the story contradicted each other, and some of the themes weren’t approached in the best possible way.
Mary and Max features a talented voice cast, with Toni Collette and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the title characters, Barry Humphries as the narrator, and Eric Bana as Mary’s dubious love interest, Damian. The visual side of the movie is striking – the claymation can simultaneously remind you of a Primus music video and an Edward Gorey drawing; the characters’ movements are subtle and artfully executed, and the director’s attention to detail in the settings really makes their world come alive.
The story of two lonely souls establishing an unlikely friendship is an old, familiar concept, but it’s one that people never really stop being drawn to. At the beginning of the film, Mary is a sweet and inquisitive Australian 8-year-old, who has trouble making friends, and finds no solace in the company of her dysfunctional, self-absorbed parents. She picks out an address at random in a New York City phone booth she finds at the library, in attempt to find a pen pal overseas. The recipient of her letter is a solitary 44-year-old Max Horovitz; he immediately takes a liking to Mary, because he has trouble navigating the social world, and seems to find it somewhat easier to relate to her. Mary and Max begin exchanging letters, pictures, and confectionaries, cheering each other up as heavy obstacles pop up in their lives. Their correspondence goes on for many years, during which time Mary endures her teenage years, and enters adulthood, while Max struggles with his complicated mental patterns. He eventually gets diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome. The events take place between 1976 and 1994, and are allegedly based on a true story.
My two main criticisms in regards to Mary and Max have to do with the humorous side of the movie, and its portrayal of autism. From the start, the film establishes a very light, whimsical, and silly tone, which ultimately clashes with the dark experiences that the characters face. Humour could have benefitted the movie if it was toned down considerably, and if it had better timing. That particular type of self-conscious quirky cleverness seems to invalidate the heavy themes of the film, which include alcoholism, suicide, anger, betrayal, and desperate loneliness. The jokes serve to indulge audience, rather than to provide a realistic funny perspective to the characters, to make them more believable, or to add an extra dimension to their struggles. As you watch Mary and Max’s lives undergo painful transformations, the gimmicky humour often gets in the way of your respect and sympathy.
As far as the portrayal of autism goes, it is definitely one-sided in this movie; a viewer with no knowledge of Asperger’s syndrome could walk away with a skewed perspective of the disorder. The film’s discussion of this type of autism is somewhat superficial, and the director seems to find it a bit too amusing. Popular movie characters that might be affected by Asperger’s syndrome, such as Napoleon Dynamite or Amélie Poulain, are usually portrayed as entertaining oddities, who delight the viewer with their inexplicable, wacky idiosyncrasies, while little or no effort is made to reveal them as real and complicated people. Max’s character is a departure from that stereotype – his condition is at least acknowledged, and an attempt is made to show how he copes with it, but there is still a fair bit of that “Look at this guy! Isn’t he so funny, eccentric, and strange?” attitude to spoil the impression. Those who do not live with autism might not even catch this aspect of the movie, but Aspies and high-functioning autistics might feel alienated by Mary and Max’s depiction of the condition. While the film’s effort to include a character on the autism spectrum is commendable, the idea is definitely flawed in execution.
Mary and Max is worth a watch, though I would advise the viewers not to take the movie’s tone for granted; some questions need to be asked about the way it was made, regardless of how you’re going to make up your own mind about it. A great deal of talent went into the making of this film, and I respect what Adam Elliot tried to do here. It’s just not perfect in many respects. In case you’re interested in it, the movie going to play at the Bloor until Tuesday, November 24th.
