Animated snails. Yup. Not just snails. Animated snails. I imagine that has some appeal to the stop-motion cinematographer. I mean, you don’t have to do all that much in between shots, now do you? Of course, this story isn’t about the snails so much as their owner, a depressing orphan named Grace. Grace Pudel. Yes, “Pudel.” Outside of Japan, animation needs jokes; that’s how animation works.
Grace (voice of Sarah Snook) can be forgiven for being a bit odd; she’s had a hard life. She lost her mother to childbirth, then lost her dad during childhood. Forced to find homes for Grace and her twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), the state gave her to a series of families who didn’t seem to care much. And eventually, this snail-hat wearing sad sack marries a man who enjoys her dimensions more than her company.
This is very adult animation, fwiw. Memoir of a Snail has been made in a child-friendly medium (stop-motion animation) and is largely about children -or at least is for a while. It is also entirely about family and yet there is little family-friendly about this picture. Heck, the film opens with a deathbed scene we have to flashback to later on. Later, we get into the sexual proclivities of both Grace’s step-parents (swingers), and her eventual husband, a door-to-door salesman with a certain fixation.
So, you know, fun for the kids. Bring ‘em round.
There is dark cloud that seems to follow Grace. She was born with a cleft lip, which made her constantly the subject of school ridicule: “Rabbit face!” “Rabbit face!”
Gilbert defended her from bullies. Paid a price for doing so and was rewarded for doing so with losing dad and getting sent to religious freaks on the other side of the continent. This left Grace alone, essentially, with her blues and her pets (mostly snails, some guinea pigs). Grace, who perpetually wears a self-made snail costume around as a personal wall between herself and pain, seems like an ideal candidate for every psychological disorder life has to serve up. And, at times, this film will feel like Grace has sifted through everyone to get to the punchline.
I don’t want to give away too much of this film other than to say, I enjoyed it. Really and truly I did. But I have a thing for gallows humor and I stayed to the end, which I dearly recommend. Be patient of you start this one. Could I see this New Zealand brainchild of writer/director Adam Elliot being nominated for Best Animated Film? Yes, most definitely. Can I see it winning Best Animated Film? Not a chance.
There once was an orphan named Grace
Deep sorrow filled all of her space
Her problems amassed
Until, one day, at last
She got new ones thrown back in her face
Rated R, 94 Minutes
Director: Adam Elliot
Writer: Adam Elliot
Genre: Stop-motion fun!
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who develop strange affinities for clay people
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: How do you feel about earth tones?
