Directed by: Adam Elliot

Runtime: 1hr 32mins

When you think about writing a story you ask yourself, “is there a lot of action? or is there a lot of thinking and descriptions.” If there’s a lot of actions you have a movie, if there’s a lot of thinking and descriptions you probably have a novel. Ok, so that’s not always the case, but when it comes to making a film about pen pals writing to each other and describing their lives, it could be hard to imagine the visual component.

That clearly wasn’t the case for Australian filmmaker Adam Elliot. His 2009 film “Mary and Max” is a visually unique stop motion animated film about sad lonely people finding solace in friendship on the other side of the world.

It begins in Australia in 1976, where we meet 8 year old Mary Daisy Dinkle (young Mary: Bethany Whitmore; grown up…