The independent animated movie Mary and Max will be released on DVD and Blu-ray disc on June 15, 2010, from IFC Films and MPI Home Video. The movie was written and directed by Adam Elliot (who also directed the Oscar-winning short "Harvie Krumpet"), and centers on the unlikely pen-pal relationship between 8-year-old Melbourne native Mary Daisy Dinkle (voiced by Bethany Whitmore and later by Toni Collette) and the 44-year old New Yorker Max Jerry Horovitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman) after Mary picks his name at random from a Manhattan phone book. The movie also features the voices of Eric Bana and Barry Humphries (a.k.a. Dame Edna). "Harvie Krumpet" will also be included on the DVD and Blu-ray as a bonus feature. Suggested retail pricing is $24.98 for the DVD and $29.98 for the Blu-ray.
AN UNLIKELY FRIENDSHIP THAT SPANS THE GLOBE MARKS THE FEATURE DEBUT OF THE OSCAR-WINNING CREATORS OF ‘HARVIE KRUMPET’
MARY AND MAX
Philip Seymour Hoffman Stars in the Funny and Moving Claymation Film About a Middle-Aged New Yorker and an Australian Girl Who Become Pen Pals – and a Mutual Support System. It Arrives on DVD and Blu-ray on June 15, 2010
“remarkable and poignant” – Kevin Thomas, Los Angeles Times
“something almost magical is involved.” – Marc Mohan, The Oregonian
New York, NY (April 12, 2010) – A chance “meeting” changes two lives forever in the extraordinary claymation feature MARY AND MAX, starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Toni Collette and Eric Bana. The full-length debut by the Oscar-winning director of Harvie Krumpet, it comes to DVD and Blu-ray on June 15, 2010, from MPI Media Group, with SRPs, respectively, of $24.98 and $29.98.
Writer-director Adam Elliot brings the unique stop-motion style he forged in the short Harvie Krumpet to a feature about the unlikeliest of friendships. In 1970s suburban Melbourne, lonely 8-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (voiced by Bethany Whitmore, and later by Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Toni Collette of The United States of Tara), the only child of an alcoholic mother and a distant father, picks a name at random out of a Manhattan phone book and writes to him. The recipient is Max Jerry Horovitz (Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote), an obese 44-year-old single man who, despite suffering from the behavioral disorder Asperger’s syndrome, responds in kind.
Thus begins a strange yet mutually supportive – and at times strained – pen-pal relationship that spans 20 years and two continents and touches on issues and concerns ranging from autism and alcoholism to taxidermy, kleptomania, religion, agoraphobia and where babies come from.
Adam Elliot sets his whimsically fashioned stop-motion characters against visually arresting backgrounds: sepia tones for Mary’s suburban life in Australia to grays, blacks and whites for Max’s solitary life in big bad New York. By expressing their hopes and fears to each other over the years, Mary and Max both begin to move bravely toward full-color lives.
MARY AND MAX, produced by Harvie Krumpet producer Melanie Coombs, also features the voices of Eric Bana (Troy, The Time Traveler’s Wife) and narrator Barry Humphries (aka Dame Edna).
The film has received nearly universal critical acclaim (its “freshness” rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 90%). Writing in The Oregonian, March Mohan praised the film, noting: “When two-dimensional drawings, computer pixels or lifeless lumps of clay can inspire real feeling, something almost magical is involved. Rarely has this been truer than in the Australian claymation film MARY AND MAX.”
Screen International’s Mike Goodridge praised it as “a melancholy true story of unlikely friendship which is another bold example of adult storytelling through animation.”
An Official Selection of the Sundance Film Festival, MARY AND MARY has won numerous prestigious prizes, including the Feature Film Award at the Annecy International Animated Film Festival, the Grand Prize at the Ottawa International Animation Festival, and the Best Animated Feature Film award at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards.
Special features on the DVD and Blu-ray include the Academy Award-winning short that started it all, Harvie Krumpet.
About MPI Media Group
The MPI Media Group is a leading distributor, licensor, and producer of films, home entertainment, historical footage and more. Founded in 1976, Chicago-based MPI Media Group remains one of the largest independent entertainment companies offering a compelling slate of the world’s most respected cinema, documentaries, performances and television series. MPI’s wholly owned subsidiaries include MPI Home Video, Dark Sky Films, and the WPA Film Library programs. In North America, product is released via the company’s subsidiary labels; MPI Home Video and Dark Sky Films. www.mpimediagroup.com.
MARY AND MAX
Street date: June 15, 2010
Prebook: May 10, 2010
SRP: $24.98 (DVD); $29.98 (Blu-ray)
Running time: 92 minutes
Not Rated
Extras: Short film “Harvie Krumpet”
Tonight's Princess Pi is a story of redemption guaranteed to be the feel-good hit of the winter! From the makers of that Rock tooth fairy movie, it's "NICK and MORE!"
