A very odd, very unlikely animated film from Australia that manages to be sickly-cute, alarmingly grotesque, and right-on at the same time – often in the very same scene. The two principal characters are an unloved, unregarded kid from Melbourne – Mary – and a heavyset middle-aged New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome, Max; they become penpals after Mary's random encounter with a telephone directory, and their exchange of letters swiftly emerges as the emotional lifeline for their unhappy existences. All of this is rendered in almost completely monochromatic claymation – only occasional colours stand out, such as the red pompom
Mary sends to Max at one point - and writer-director Adam Elliot inserts many a throwaway gag and impressively leftfield (and largely insect-related) detail. He's also recruited an impressive voice cast – including Toni Collette, Barry Humphries and Philip Seymour Hoffman. But the switches in tone are jolting, to say the least: at one moment, Mary is enthusing about her favourite TV show; the next, we are being treated to a lecture on the symptoms of Asperger's. You have to admire the ambition, even if Elliot doesn't always seem certain if he's laughing with or at his creations.
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