Memoir of a Snail – Film Review
Reviewed by Damien Straker on the 19th of October 2024
Madman presents a film by Adam Elliot
Written by Adam Elliot
Produced by Liz Kearney and Adam Elliot
Starring Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon, Tony Armstrong, Paul Capsis, Nick Cave, Bernie Clifford, Davey Thompson, Charlotte Belsey, Mason Litsos, and Jacki Weaver
Cinematography Gerald Thompson
Edited by Bill Murphy
Music by Elena Kats-Chernin
Rating: TBA
Running Time: 94 minutes
Release Date: the 17th of October 2024
Adam Elliot is pushing the boundaries of modern animation. Rewriting boundaries is normally attributed to increasing animated cinema’s visual prowess. There is no shortage of skill in how he makes expressive Claymation visuals come to life. Elliot is experienced in this form having made the Oscar winning short film Harvie Krumpet (2003) and the melancholic Mary and Max (2009). The animation in Memoir of a Snail is as detailed as ever and littered with clever sight gags. However, the effort to expand the thematic and comedic aims of the genre makes the film unique. It is a natural extension of the recent surge of adult animation on streaming series such as Arcane, Terminator Zero, and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Elliot is exploring the psychological effects of grief on people while briskly unloading a high volume of adult jokes. Adults will relish the chances the director takes with the mature themes but should know beforehand that despite the cute presentation this is not a kid’s film.
Instead, Snail is a jet-black comedy and a poignant coming of age story. The story is about an isolated young woman named Grace (voiced superbly by Sarah Snook). After her mother passes away it leaves herself, her brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), and their father to live together. As she narrates the story, Grace recalls how her parents met in France when her dad was a talented street performer. She also illustrates that she and Gilbert wanted to be creatives themselves. They were in love with making stop motion films. Now Grace is still infatuated with everything snail related because it was what her mother loved. Her room is filled wall to wall with snail paraphernalia! Yet it is the bond between herself and Gilbert that keeps them through the difficult times. Their love is tested when their father passes away unexpectedly. They are sent to foster homes in different parts of the country. Gilbert is left with a religious family that worships apples. Grace is adopted by a pair of seemingly nice self-help gurus. She later meets an eccentric older lady named Pinky (Jackie Weaver) who helps reshape her life.
One can only imagine the time and effort Elliot and his collaborators spent slaving over the film’s technical elements. His second feature film is so confidently assembled it is easy to forget you are watching little puppets made from clay. There is a seamless quality to the production that ensures everything flows. The film’s colour and spatiality are also deliberately chosen. The film adopts a monochrome colour scheme which is as purposeful as the narrowness of Grace’s room where she hoards her snail collection. The stylistic choices show grief’s emotional paralysis where people are unable to mature. Her life is dominated by snails because they remind her of her mother. There are snails in jars, snail figures, and snails on picture frames. It is hilarious how many variations on snails they develop. The room or shine of snails becomes Grace’s own shell where she shies from the world. It is not as daunting as it sounds though. The endless sight gags provide levity. One of the funniest moments is during Jackie’s decline where she mistakes her cornflakes for pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Other images are quite provocative, including an early shot of Grace and Frankie in the womb together. The emotional bond is underlined and strengthened literally from birth. Not only is the film made with great skill it also uses its craft to express psychology and different moods too.
What will further surprise people about Snail is the depth of topics and some of the big targets that Elliot paints throughout the story. Mary and Max proved to a very poignant study of isolation. Snail is a similarly touching look at loneliness because of how thoroughly the director underlines the bond between the siblings. We are told the brother and sister shared a blood transfusion at a young age. Later, Gilbert is shown to hilariously maim a school bully attacking Grace. It illustrates why it is so painful for them to be kept apart. What is also surprising and funny is how Elliot, who is gay himself, takes aim at religion and its rampant homophobia. The way he attacks this topic and shows the evil apple cult is a shock to the system but also very funny and understandable. He is imposing his own feelings of loneliness into the film. The way that he continues to provoke and shock people and rethink the boundaries of animated cinema is hilarious too. There are jokes about masturbation, snail sex, nudity, swingers, and more. There is also a disturbing subplot about one of Grace’s partners and a kink he possesses. Including this content is an animated film pairs well with Grace’s emotional stiltedness. The animated form reflects her naivety to some of these dark adult subjects. Evidently, Elliot deserves the benefit of the doubt about its inclusion rather than just being a funny, very clever provocateur.
The film benefits from how daring and uncompromised it is. These are the same factor that might deter people expecting a gentle feel-good movie or worse a generic kid’s film because the story is animated. Fortunately, it is so much more than either of those shallow categories. It is a study of a life and how grief can stifle a person’s emotional development. The various thematic and comedic angles Elliot uses to approach this through-line is hilarious and impressive. If it was a little bit shorter in places and did not rely so heavily on its elegant voice over to tell us what is happening in the story it would have been a complete winner. Nonetheless, it has never been Elliot’s goal to please anyone. The chances that he takes with this funny, quirky film completely reflect his artistic conviction.
Summary: Adam Elliot is pushing the boundaries of modern animation. This is a study of a life and how grief can stifle a person’s emotional development.
3.5
Strong
About the Author
Damien Straker is a freelance writer and film critic. He studied at the University of Sydney and graduated with an Arts Honours degree in Film Studies. He is a pop culture aficionado and enjoys talking about all films, 90s TV shows, ninjas and watching Rugby League. His favourite film directors are Alfonso Cuarón, Clint Eastwood and Alexander Payne.
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