This year has been an unusually strong year for animation, with plenty of international productions offering real competition to Pixar’s awards dominance. This week, we’re showcasing one of these contenders: an odd and beautiful stop motion work from Australia, Mary and Max.

Based loosely on a true story, the movie tells the tale of an unlikely friendship between Mary Dinkle (voiced by Toni Collette and Bethany Whitmore), a shy, chubby young girl living in a Melbourne suburb, and Max Horovitz (voiced by Philip Seymour Hoffman), an aging Jewish man with Aspergers syndrome living in New York. Purely by chance, the two become pen pals, and through their letters, they help each other grapple with their various problems. But Mary’s insecurity and Max’s instability also prove to be a dangerous mix, their friendship and quarrels leading to some unexpectedly dark places.

The movie disarmingly uses stop motion animation to tell a rather grim story. Inserted within the storybook narration and innocuous visuals is an exploration of loneliness, of living in a world where you just don’t like feel like you belong. The movie has some surprisingly dark scenes, refusing to sugarcoat some of the harsher realities that its story touches on. From this darkness also comes a rather wicked sense of humor that becomes a source of welcome catharsis.

Director Adam Elliot has won an Oscar before for his short Harvie Krumpet. His award winning skills are evident here as well. He uses a limited palette of brown, gray and red to really set off the contrast between the worlds he’s building. It has a really dramatic effect on the storytelling, providing much of the atmosphere and a real sense of visual unity. This is a phenomenal little film, and is a must-see for any fan of animation.

MARY AND MAX
Written and Directed by Adam Elliot
Featuring the voices of Toni Collette, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Eric Bana, Barry Humphries and Bethany Whitmore.
80 Minutes
November 23-26, November 28 (No screening on Friday)
IMDB
Trailer

This week, a new slice of science fiction delivered by first time director Duncan Jones and the ever-reliable Sam Rockwell. All week at Mogwai: Moon.

In the distant future, all of Earth’s energy comes from the moon; usable fuel harvested from its rocks by automated mining stations. Astronaut Sam Bell (played by Sam Rockwell) is the lone technician manning one of these stations. The loneliness of the three years spent on the station has obviously taken its toll, but the hope of coming home is keeping him going. But he has an accident on the surface of the moon, inadvertently leading to a couple of sinister discoveries about his life on the station.

There’s a lot more going on to the plot of Moon, but it’s probably best that you go in knowing as little as possible about it. The only thing you really need to know is that Sam Rockwell, easily one of America’s greatest actors, puts on the performance of his life. Everything in the movie is designed to feel cold; cold in the Kubrickian science fiction sense, with its pristine, technological settings and vast distances, but Rockwell provides so much warmth in his character that the movie always feels like a distinctly human story.

Take yourself to the far side of the moon this week at Mogwai.

MOON
Directed by Duncan Jones
Written by Duncan Jones and Nathan Parker
Starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey
97 Minutes
November 16-17, 19-21 (No screening on Wednesday)
Screenings start at 9PM
IMDB
Trailer