MEMOIR OF A SNAIL – A Review by Cynthia Flores
I love claymation films. The art of Claymation is a stop-motion animation technique that uses clay or plasticine to create the illusion of movement in a film. Animation auteur Adam Elliot is the Australian equivalent of the British team of animators Peter Lord and David Sproxton from the world-famous Aardman Studios. You would know them from their four Academy Award® winning projects and their iconic Wallace & Gromit films.
Adam Elliot has one Academy Award Oscar for a short claymation film in 2004 called Harvie Krumpet and huge critical acclaim for 2009’s Mary & Max. All his films have a tragicomic touch to them. Dark humor at its best. Memoir of a Snail is his second feature film and no different.
The color pallet he uses for the film is a sepia tone. You will see no bright blue colors in this film. All the set production reminded me of the look from the 1995 French film City of Lost Children. One of the leads of that classic film, Dominique Pinon lends his voice to the cast of this new film.
Memoir of a Snail tells the story of Grace (Sarah Snook) and Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee). A misfit set of twins who were raised by their crippled father Percy Pudel (Dominique Pinon). Life has been hard for this little family of three. Grace was born with a cleft palate and carried the scar it left on her. Gilbert is an intellectual with a loner vibe. And their father, who once made animations and made a good living as a street performer in Paris, suffers a tragedy and gets lost in booze.
When their family shrinks down to just Grace and Gilbert the authorities separate the young twins and send them off to foster homes on opposite sides of Australia. Grace is placed with a loving but self-involved nudist couple. Gilbert is unfortunately placed with a hypocritical “man of God” and his cruel wife. They run an apple farm where Gilbert and all the other foster brothers are forced to work and go to church.
They were both very young when they were separated. The rest of the film centers on Grace. She shrinks within herself and spirals into a life of anxiety and angst. Her only comfort is the letters from her brother and her pet snails. The twins promise each other that they will be together again someday.
As time goes on her sad lonely life takes a turn for the better when she strikes up an enduring friendship with an elderly eccentric woman named Pinky (Jacki Weaver). Pinky puts the E in eccentric and is a tough old broad with a lust for life that she shares with Grace.
The rest of the film is a touching and hilarious chronicle of Grace’s life. How she goes from an outsider to someone who finds her confidence and as she likes to say “silver linings” amongst the clutter of her everyday life.
Adam Elliott wrote and directed this odd and wonderful film. There is so much to look at as the story goes on. The opening shot with the title sequence is one continuous shot. It was fun to look for a small bottle with a cork top that holds the actual tip of a finger from one of Adam’s team. It was a casualty to the art form that uses a lot of X-ACTO blades to create their sets. We found out about the human remains from the director in a Q&A he did for the film before it started. He is fiercely proud that every single prop, set, and character is a unique handmade tangible object made by a team of artists who spent almost a year making the 7,000 objects needed to tell Grace’s tale. There is no AI or computer-generated anything in this film. Which I think lends to its beauty. Except for one song, everything in the film is original. What a wonderful treat in the age of franchise storytelling and remakes.
In his filmmaker statement, Adam Elliot is quoted as saying:
Memoir of a Snail is my seventh clayography and is the bittersweet remembrance of a lonely woman called Grace Pudel, who retells her life story to a humble garden snail called Sylvia. The protagonists in all my films are outsiders and my themes and narratives explore difference. I love telling stories that are infused with humor and pathos; reflections of our own everyday lives that celebrate the moments of joy with the darkness that comes with life’s challenges. For over thirty years my objective has been simple; make my audiences laugh… and make them cry.
Besides casting some cameo voices like Musician Nick Cave in the film Adam was able to get Australia’s famous classical composer, Elena Kats-Chernin to score the film. And alongside master cinematographer Gerald Thompson the audience is immersed in the world of Grace and her snails.
I give Memoir of a Snail 4.5 stars. This is not a children’s animated movie. It’s definitely not for anyone under the age of fourteen with a parent. I can see its adult fans watching it several times to catch all the wonderfully crafted details that fill the screen of this bitter-sweet film.
Directed by: Adam Elliot
Written by: Adam Elliot
Rated: R
Selig Rating: 4.5 Stars
Running Time: 1 hr 34 min
Adult Animation/ stop motion claymation/ Drama
Wide Theatrical Release: In Theaters November 8th
Starring: The Voices of Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Sarah Snook, Jacki Weaver, Adam Elliot, Dominique Pinon, and Nick Cave
The Selig Rating Scale:
5 Stars – Excellent movie/show, well worth the time and price.
4 Stars – Good movie/show
3 Stars – OK movie/show
2 Stars – Well, there was nothing else…
1 Star – Total waste of time.
