MPX Review
Mpx is an animated film produced by Mellony Combs rated 12A (spelling may differ) The story follows a character named Mary Dinkle who sets out to find out where babies come from in New York, after doing so she becomes great friends with a man named Max Morrowitz who suffers in similar ways to Mary does, seeing as they both have no friends apart from pets they both like Nubblets, through out the film the two contact each other via letters and share feelings and events, then things turn for the worse, Mary became a aythor of a book of a disability that Max had and published the first copy to Max, This caused problems… The film runs for one hour thirty-two minutes and ten seconds (01:32:10) within this time the film only seems to shift moods once or twice, I began to wonder what is the reason for this? Was the producer trying to enforce a certain feel onto the viewers via the dark gloomy colours, the situations the characters face? The situations in this film are extremely real and happen more so than often which makes me think would this be suitable for day time TV, children or even young teenagers? After watching the film here are the majority of situations that are expressed within the film:
Love – through out the film love is shown in a variety of ways and is represented in different ways such as over indulgence, obsession for example Max has a list of life time goals and one of them is to own a life times supply of chocolate. Also Max over indulges in junk food such as chocolate hot dogs and all different types of chocolate, how ever there is some sexual love in the film for example when Mary and Damien popodopollis get married and have sex.
Heart Break – The example of heartbreak is when Damien (Marys husband) leaves her for his pen pal over in new Zealand this causes Mary to spin out of control.
Pregnancy – when Mary is about to commit suicide the animators of the film shown a little embryo in her belly.
Depression – when Damien leaves marry, she begins to drink heavily and not move out the house loses all of her confidence etc, thus resulting in her becoming depressed and not very stable.
Insecurities – The character called max has insecurities about his weight and he tries to solve these by going to weight watcher. The character Mary has insecurities about a mole on her head which she then goes on to get surgically removed.
Bullying – in the earlier letters sent by mary she mentions about a young boy who bullies her about the mole on her head saying that “she has poop on her head”
Religion – The character max was a Jew he then became an atheist.
Suicide – Mary is about to commit suicide due to her husband leaving and falling out with max over a her book
Alcoholic – An example of a alcoholic in the film is shown early on is when marry’s mother Viera Loraine Dinkle and sherry to all of her recipes and drinks it all the time.
Forgiveness – the forgiveness in the film comes towards the end when max and sherry make friends after their fallout.
The film follows a Traditional character narrative as they’re only really two main characters who are shown in detail which is Max and Mary how ever the film goes into a great amount of detail and has dramatic build ups etc. iconography in this film is used a lot mainly in physical attributes, for example through out the film we are reminded visually that max is fat, and depressed, also just before the film introduces same the film makers have modelled a homeless person , they have given him a beard, ragged clothes, a cat and a can asking for money not only is this a clever use of mise-en-scene but it adds to the characters personality.
There are only a set few characters who really get shown in this film and in my opinion are the following:
Mary Dinkle – we first see mary as a young girl, she has not been blessed with the best family for numerous reasons, we are told that she is a mistake and wasn’t meant to be born , maybe this Is a reason for her lack of confidence and insecurities, also she has a birthmark on her head, although you would not think it this played a big role in marys personality for example when she had the mark she would get bullied, go home and cry, then write to max, However when she has the mole removed it is like she is a brand new character as her confidence hits the sky and she is no longer very timid but she is outgoing and believes in herself as she refers to her crush Dominic as “babe” but when she had the mole she struggled to even wave.
Viera Lorain Dinkle – This is the mother of mary, not a great role model for mary to follow as she is an alcoholic, her husband is always at work or playing in the shed with dead birds maybe this is a reason for her to drink? She is a very in your face women visually and physically, she smokes, she drinks, she steals, she doesn’t respect her self, and is too lazy to help her daughter when need be, how ever we do see the motherly side of her when mary first receives a letter Viera tries to throw it away so Mary cant read it thus protecting her daughter
Noel Dinkle – Noel is the father of Mary and we do not see much of him he is always working at the tea bag factory until he retires or playing with dead birds he finds on the free way, I get the feeling that noel just goes along with the relationship between himself and Viera, his body posture is all slumped, he looks tired and past caring maybe this helped create the marys characteristics
Max Norrowitz – Max is a lonely man, fat, depressed, no friends, but why? What triggered this we find out that his mother/father shot themselves and he was bullied in school, I think this could of possibly played a part in the way he turned out, not wanting to talk to many people, scared to find love etc.
After reviewing the iconography of the characters I came to the conclusion that all of the characters are based upon each other and all share similar qualities, I think this supports the film extremely well because you are not going from one extreme to another as a viewer all though the film is dark and depressing I feel that if it went from being extremely happy to extremely sad that the viewers would struggle to find it real enough to relate to.
The music in MPX plays a great part due to the fact that it adds to the feelings and story line, the music they have chosen I feel is relevant due to the time the film is set, I cant imagine there to be a lot of rap, hip-hop and techno around the producers chose to use older songs that are made by orchestras and instruments etc not computer generated sounds. The track list is as followed –
Track Listing:
1. Penguin CafÈ Orchestra - Perpetuum Mobile
2. Abc Radio Orchestra - Old Mother Hubbard
3. Sydney Alpha Ensemble - Russian Rag
4. Dale Cornilius - Across Two Worlds
5. Leroy Anderson - The Typewriter
6. Sydney Symphony Orchestra - Dance Of The Knights
7. Penguin CafÈ Orchestra - Prelude & Yodel
8. The Kings Consort & Choir - Zadok The Priest
9. Dale Cornilius - Max's Meltdown
10. Bert Kaemfert And His Orchestra - That Happy Feeling
11. The London Pops Orchestra - Zorba's Dance
12. James Last And His Orchestra - That's Life
13. Dale Cornilius - How I Feel / Pulping Her Life
14. Pink Martini - What Ever Will Be Will Be
15. Nana Mouskouri - The Humming Chorus
16. Bert Kaemfert - A Swinging Safari
as you can see from the track listing the producers have chosen very dramatic songs as the film itself is extremely dramatic.
I feel that the theme of the film is rather depressing how ever enjoyable to watch as it is not showing a odourless life it is showing real life problems that people actually suffer , and the producers have captured this extremely well with the styling of the film for example : The film is very dark, there is not a major use of vibrant colours, the music fits etc…Overall i feel that the film is somewhat Depressing, Eye opening and Realistic.
Taking into consideration of all the graphic scenes and nature of the film i feel that advertising this on bbc 1 or 2 wouldnt be very suitable where as chanel 4 would be more suitable due to the fact they they tend to show violent or very emotional driven films/programs such as This is england where there is a graphic rape scene, and even racism, so i feel that the film will fit in with previous listings and that the viewers will not be shocked as much as they would of been if the film was shown on bbc. If i was to choose two products to advertise during the intermissions i wouldn't choose flight to new york or australia due to the fact it does not show the countries in a very good way for example in new york it shows alot of people littering smoking and being igronant and in australia it shows theifs bullies, and alcoholics which is not a very good look for either country. The two products i would advertise are:
Parcel Force: the reason i would choose to advrtise parcel force is because when the two characters max and mary are sending letters and parcels across to each other they have no problems what so ever in receiving them.. so i would choose these and possibly speak with the creaters of the film to do a little advertisement using the main characters or something. I would aim this advertisment at the older generation of around 20 years old and up due to the fact that young people do not realy send letters of parcels.
The National Lottery: the reason i would choose this advertisment is because in the film max puts on the lottery for so long and still keeps faith and one day he wins so if the advertiser was to go by the film, it really backs up the fact that anyone could win it and when they win they win big. I feel that this would be a good incentive to try and get audiences from 16 years old and onwards to try and start winning the lottery.
