The 20th Annual San Diego Jewish Film Festival kicked off last night with "A Matter of Size," which repeats February 13 at UltraStar Mission Valley and February 18 at AMC La Jolla. The festival will run through February 21 at multiple venues. But if there's one film to catch it's "Mary and Max" screening tonight only at 7:30pm at UltraStar Mission Valley.
"Mary and Max" is a brilliantly animated and cleverly scripted tale of a 20-year penpal friendship between Mary Dinkle (Toni Collette), a chubby lonely 8-year old from Melbourne, and Max Horowitz (Philip Seymour Hoffman), an obese isolated 44-year old New Yorker with Asperger’s Syndrome. This stop motion animation is rich in its humanity and character development, and displays an eye for vivid visual and emotional detail.
I will have more coverage of the festival, including a radio report on Tuesday. But please make sure to seek this gem out. It's unlikely it will return for a longer engagement and it only plays once at the festival so this might be your only chance to catch it on the big screen.
