Dir: Adam Elliot, Australia, 2009, 92 mins
Cast (voice): Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries
Review by Dave Hall
Claymation (the form of stop motion animation used in the Wallace and Gromit films ) isn’t usually associated with the darker side of life, but writer-director Elliot, with his palette of browns and greys, has created something new and peculiar with this odd couple yarn based on his own long distance pen pal relationship. It’s clearly a labour of love, but some of that attention needed to be lavished on the script; it’s distractingly uneven in tone. On balance, though, the vocal talents of the stellar cast and the lovingly rendered visuals just about win out.
The film begins in the suburbs of 1970s Melbourne , where 8-year old Mary lives a lonely life, compensated for by her twin obsessions: TV show The Noblets , and sweetened, condensed milk. One day she randomly picks a name from the New York telephone directory and writes a speculative letter to Max (Hoffman), a morbidly obese, 44-year old Jewish Asperger’s sufferer, also obsessed by The Noblets and by chocolate hot dogs. Thus begins a correspondence that lasts 20 years, and that takes in chocolate in all its forms as well as the highs and more particularly the lows of their respective lives.
Because all this is set in the days before the internet, Elliot can portray the exhilarating thrill of writing, sending and waiting expectantly to hear a response to the hand-written (or in Max’s case type-written) letter. And, of course, the disappointment felt when the mailbox is opened to reveal nothing but a gaggle of goggle-eyed snails. Hoffman, adopting a nasal Noo Yoik accent, is inspired as Max, and Collette winningly conveys the vulnerability of the grown up Mary. The two speak only to read the words of the letters, cleverly conveying the importance of the relationship in both characters’ lives.
In between times, however, Barry Humphries as narrator spends too much time telling us what the film should be showing. His rambling script becomes a self-congratulatory bore, highlighting Elliot’s slightly smug determination to flag up all the taboos he’s breaking. It’s a shame, because this is a compassionate portrayal of outsiders and misfits and one which doesn’t shy away from subjects like addiction, bullying, de press ion and suicide. Wouldn’t it have been just as effective without fanfare?
Either way, you won’t find any of the cosy eccentricity of Wallace and Gromit here. Mary and Max ‘s path is much rockier, and takes in some of the discordant notes of city and suburban life but it gets to a life-affirming destination all the same.
![The Human Centipede [First Sequence] (18) | Close-Up Film Review](http://www.close-upfilm.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/human_centipede-150x150.jpg)
