01
Harvie Krumpet
Why this pick
Adam Elliot’s earlier clay-animated tragicomedy shares the handmade texture, deadpan narration, eccentric detail, and enormous compassion for a life shaped by isolation and misfortune.
A FILM WORTH A CLOSER LOOKTHE FEATURE PRESENTATION
MOVIE2009 1h 32m AUS
IF THIS ONE STAYED WITH YOU
Movies like
Mary and Max
AnimationComedyDrama
CINEHUNCH / THE NEXT FRAME
Keep the feeling.
SIMILAR PICKS / A PERSONAL CONNECTION
If you loved Mary and Max, try these.
01
02
A Silent Voice
Why this pick
Though visually very different, it carries Mary and Max’s emotional core: childhood cruelty, lasting guilt, mental-health struggles, and a patient, deeply humane movement toward connection.
03
Lars and the Real Girl
Why this pick
A gentle, offbeat portrait of profound isolation in which a small community responds with empathy rather than ridicule; its deadpan humor protects a remarkably tender heart.
04
The Illusionist
Why this pick
This dialogue-light animated story finds aching warmth in an unlikely friendship, using carefully observed routines, muted period detail, and melancholy comedy instead of sentimentality.
05
The Red Turtle
Why this pick
Its wordless, handcrafted animation has the same ability to make solitude feel tangible and compassionate, letting small gestures and visual atmosphere carry its quietly devastating emotional weight.
Finding the atmosphere, tension and little details that made this one stay with you.
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01 / THE STORY
A little about the film.
In 1976, eight-year-old Mary Daisy Dinkle (Bethany Whitmore) lives a lonely life in Mount Waverley, Victoria, Australia. At school, she is teased by her classmates because of an unfortunate birthmark on her forehead; while at home, her distant father, Noel, and alcoholic, kleptomaniac mother, Vera, provide little support. Her only comforts are her pet rooster, Ethel; her favourite food, sweetened condensed milk; and a The Smurfs-like cartoon show called ''The Noblets''. One day, while at the post office with her mother, Mary spots a New York City telephone book and, becoming curious about Americans, decides to write to one. She randomly chooses Max Jerry Horowitz's name from the phone book and writes him a letter telling him about herself, sending it off in the hope that he will become her Pen pal.
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02 / FACES IN THE FRAME
The people who bring it to life.
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Max Jerry Horovitz (voice)
Ian 'Molly' Meldrum
Homeless Man (voice)
Julie Forsyth
Additional Voices (voice)
Christopher Massey
Additional Voices (voice)
Bethany Whitmore
Young Mary (voice)
Toni Collette
Mary Daisy Dinkle (voice)
Eric Bana
Damien (voice)
Barry Humphries
Narrator (voice)