Berlinale 2009, Day 4 (Mary and Max)

Welcome to the next part of “About Chocolate Berlinale”, harr harr. You must have been wondering why there were no films yesterday. Well, the truth is, we didn’t get into any. “Mammoth” was obviously sold out, “My Dear Enemy” was sold out, and this left me so depressed that I wasn’t willing to see to late-night movie that went from 10pm to midnight anymore, because it’s another hour getting back home.

Today, we were much luckier! We had to wait for “Mary and Max”, but aside from the fact that there were a lot of annoying young children who obviously were in a group with school, we easily got into the film. Yet again, I have to complain about the organization though. There was quite a little line queued up (and everybody in front of us looked exponentially more pissed the more you moved forward to the line), and they opened the counter about 30 minutes before the scheduled time, although it is written everywhere – ironically even on the closed counter – that they would open one hour before. Oh, the Babylon, there really is nothing you can do against this cinema.

Yet again, we had the director present, but with the audience (at least 70% children, I guess?), there wasn’t much we could expect from the Q&A, especially since the movie itself was pretty straightforward. It was nice to see that the director was there though – how typical of the Berlinale.

Mary and Max
Australia 2008, Adam Elliot, 92′

The film was apparently opening Sundance last year, and I can totally see why. Although this is clearly a story geared towards children, it is so full of sexual jokes and adult wittiness that you can easily say that this is the type of ‘family movie’ that everybody would enjoy. And I did, with a few exceptions.

Story-wise, it had a simple premise. When 8-year-old Mary accidentally opened a phonebook, she decided to write to a random person and by chance stumbled upon Max Horowitz, a 44 year old lonesome Jew who later would be diagnosed with Aspergers. They then exchange letters, and over the years, their friendship grows stronger, but also encounters difficulties: They would get angry at each other, lose touch of each other etc. But in the end, they remained each other’s best and only friends.

In many respects, I have found this film to be really beautiful. What made it so great lied primarily in the way this unusual friendship was told – both of them were depicted in such detail and they really felt ‘alive’. Ironically, the best character descriptions I have found in literature were German and Russian, but the Germans felt so much more dense. It is amazing how such in depth characterization can be made in just 100 – or 92 minutes in the case of this movie.

Aside from the wonderful but perhaps a little kitsch friendship, the film’s biggest strength was its humour. There were comical situations very suitable for children – and others that totally were not. Now, I cannot remember all of them exactly (there were too many anyways), but a lot of them made me laugh out loud. For example, one subtle joke were the signs of the beggar next to Max’ house. First, it said “Hug 50c”, then it said “Financial advice” and finally at some point, it said “Keep your money, I want change.” Or how Mary asked whether in America, children also come out of the bottom of beer glasses. Max then replied: “In America, children come out of eggs hatched by rabbis. Or if you are catholic, by nuns. But if you are atheist, by a prostitute.”

I was also quite impressed and saddened at the same time how the film dealt with Max’ Aspergers syndrome. First of all, it was described in detail (and in this way, was also quite educational, because I am sure that many people do not exactly know what Aspergers is). I too think that one should not “cure” them, but I guess I just found it very depressing when their friendship was on the verge of break up because of this.
What was great, however, was how the film was so full of sexual jokes, but the relationship between Max and Mary stayed very pure. Perhaps I am just too wicked, but normally “OMG lolicon” would be the first thing I would think when I see such a story. But here, we have a deep friendship without any innuendo.

At the end of the film, they quoted “God gave us relatives – luckily we can choose our friends ourselves.” Perhaps that sums up the story the best. And oh by the way, the film made me cry even though one would think that the end was predictable and cheesy. That must mean that I truly liked it.