October 30, 2024
FILM: MEMOIR OF A SNAIL
DIRECTED BY: ADAM ELLIOT
STARRING: SARAH SNOOK, ERIC BANA, KODI SMIT-MCPHEE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars.
By Dan Pal
I’ve been publishing my own memoir on Substack for most of this year. It’s a fascinating, fulfilling, and sometimes emotional experience delving into and revealing the many details of my life. So, coming into the new stop motion animated film, Memoir of a Snail, I was intrigued by just how much detail could originate from a snail’s life… Okay, it’s not that kind of snail. Rather it’s about a character named Grace who, like her favorite animal, has built a life that has slowly caged her in.
Succession’s Sarah Snook voices Grace who begins telling her life story to her pet snail Sylvia. In good memoir form, she starts at the beginning and travels through all of the ups and downs of her life. This isn’t your typical American, child-focused, animated film though. It is an Australian work which is for people who can appreciate a very well-developed fictional autobiography. Over the course of the story we learn that Grace’s mother died when Grace and her twin brother Gilbert were very young. She was raised by her father who became a paraplegic while entertaining people on the street. When he dies, the siblings are separated and Grace lives a challenging life with no friends until she meets a Cuban cigar smoking woman named Pinky. Voiced by Jacki Weaver, Pinky, is one of the major bright spots in Grace’s life. She got her name after losing her finger dancing on a bar in Barcelona. (You have to see the film to understand how that happened.) Pinky tells Grace a number of often very funny stories of her own life.
Generally, Memoir of a Snail has many such humorous moments but over the course of the narrative it also touches on real life struggles and social issues including alcoholism, homelessness, death, grief, hording, anti-gay Bible thumpers, and Alzheimer’s disease. At times the film does go a little dark but ultimately has a very positive message about moving forward and breaking free from the cages we (and others) lock ourselves into.
Director Adam Elliot previously won an Oscar for his short animated film Harvey Krumpet. The world he creates here is beautifully dark and moody. The primary color palette is grey, yellow, black, and a few reds suggesting excitement and action. The look is highly appropriate given the various directions the narrative takes us. This isn’t a Disney-style escapist fairy tale. The stop motion animation is inventive and a marvel to view. At one point, even Grace dreams of making a similar style animated film.
What really makes the film work though are the exceedingly well-developed characters and the actors who voice them. Even though this is “snail” Grace’s memoir, we get rich details on the histories of her father, Gilbert, and Pinky. Their stories are full of wit and drama. Often we see them reading books such as Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, and The Diary of Anne Frank. Clearly, each of these serve as inspirations for Memoir of a Snail. Like the characters in those books, Grace and the others are layered and fully formed characters with fascinating back stories.
Sarah Snook does an excellent job of drawing us in to their stories as well as to Grace’s. Her voice tackles a range of emotions while also being the solid and relatable narrator. Two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver creates a lovable and gruff character in Pinky. Power of the Dog’s Kodi-Smit McPhee does a very sensitively plays the various sides of Gilbert. Other actors voicing characters include Eric Bana, Nick Cave, and director Adam Elliot himself. They make for a strong ensemble that skillfully masters the sometimes very emotional material.
Memoir of a Snail is not an animated film for those who want the intricate and visual effects laden worlds of last year’s big hits The Boy and the Heron or Spiderman: Across the Spider Verse. This is a human story that is much more accessible to a wider audience of adults and mature teens who can appreciate some well-developed life stories…and a few pet snails.
Memoir of a Snail played at the Chicago International Film Festival. It opens this week theatrically.
FILM: MEMOIR OF A SNAIL
DIRECTED BY: ADAM ELLIOT
STARRING: SARAH SNOOK, ERIC BANA, KODI SMIT-MCPHEE
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars.
By Dan Pal
I’ve been publishing my own memoir on Substack for most of this year. It’s a fascinating, fulfilling, and sometimes emotional experience delving into and revealing the many details of my life. So, coming into the new stop motion animated film, Memoir of a Snail, I was intrigued by just how much detail could originate from a snail’s life… Okay, it’s not that kind of snail. Rather it’s about a character named Grace who, like her favorite animal, has built a life that has slowly caged her in.
Succession’s Sarah Snook voices Grace who begins telling her life story to her pet snail Sylvia. In good memoir form, she starts at the beginning and travels through all of the ups and downs of her life. This isn’t your typical American, child-focused, animated film though. It is an Australian work which is for people who can appreciate a very well-developed fictional autobiography. Over the course of the story we learn that Grace’s mother died when Grace and her twin brother Gilbert were very young. She was raised by her father who became a paraplegic while entertaining people on the street. When he dies, the siblings are separated and Grace lives a challenging life with no friends until she meets a Cuban cigar smoking woman named Pinky. Voiced by Jacki Weaver, Pinky, is one of the major bright spots in Grace’s life. She got her name after losing her finger dancing on a bar in Barcelona. (You have to see the film to understand how that happened.) Pinky tells Grace a number of often very funny stories of her own life.
Generally, Memoir of a Snail has many such humorous moments but over the course of the narrative it also touches on real life struggles and social issues including alcoholism, homelessness, death, grief, hording, anti-gay Bible thumpers, and Alzheimer’s disease. At times the film does go a little dark but ultimately has a very positive message about moving forward and breaking free from the cages we (and others) lock ourselves into.
Director Adam Elliot previously won an Oscar for his short animated film Harvey Krumpet. The world he creates here is beautifully dark and moody. The primary color palette is grey, yellow, black, and a few reds suggesting excitement and action. The look is highly appropriate given the various directions the narrative takes us. This isn’t a Disney-style escapist fairy tale. The stop motion animation is inventive and a marvel to view. At one point, even Grace dreams of making a similar style animated film.
What really makes the film work though are the exceedingly well-developed characters and the actors who voice them. Even though this is “snail” Grace’s memoir, we get rich details on the histories of her father, Gilbert, and Pinky. Their stories are full of wit and drama. Often we see them reading books such as Catcher in the Rye, Lord of the Flies, and The Diary of Anne Frank. Clearly, each of these serve as inspirations for Memoir of a Snail. Like the characters in those books, Grace and the others are layered and fully formed characters with fascinating back stories.
Sarah Snook does an excellent job of drawing us in to their stories as well as to Grace’s. Her voice tackles a range of emotions while also being the solid and relatable narrator. Two-time Oscar nominee Jacki Weaver creates a lovable and gruff character in Pinky. Power of the Dog’s Kodi-Smit McPhee does a very sensitively plays the various sides of Gilbert. Other actors voicing characters include Eric Bana, Nick Cave, and director Adam Elliot himself. They make for a strong ensemble that skillfully masters the sometimes very emotional material.
Memoir of a Snail is not an animated film for those who want the intricate and visual effects laden worlds of last year’s big hits The Boy and the Heron or Spiderman: Across the Spider Verse. This is a human story that is much more accessible to a wider audience of adults and mature teens who can appreciate some well-developed life stories…and a few pet snails.
Memoir of a Snail played at the Chicago International Film Festival. It opens this week theatrically.