A bittersweet memoir of a melancholic woman called Grace Pudel – a hoarder of snails, romance novels, and guinea pigs.
The night I attended this press screening, the film was preceded by an interview with Adam Elliot, the writer and director, and Jackie Weaver, the voice actress who gives life to Pinky, a pivotal character. In that interview, Elliot made much of his use of stop motion animation and the story woven within that animation. He explained his choice to eliminate color from the film, pulling only from a brown palette to present the deep melancholy of the storyline. The storyline was loosely based on his life, typical of his filmmaking and storywriting approach.
If you are unfamiliar with stop-motion animation, you have undoubtedly seen it used in simple cartoons like “Mr. Bill” and “Gumby.” However, “Memoir of a Snail” is a stop-motion animation that has been raised to quite an elevated level. There is art to this “Claymation,” as Elliot calls it. The first scene is filled to overflowing with the tiniest details to set the scene for what follows and Elliot’s directorial expertise rises to the fore. Grace Pudl (Sarah Snook) and her twin brother, Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), are tragic siblings who lose their parents early on and are split up and placed in separated homes by possibly well-meaning but overworked social workers who give no thought to keeping twins together. At that point, the story of Grace begins to meander through her trials and travails as her foster parents, a hilarious couple of swingers/nudists, eventually leave her and retire at a nudist camp. Nude clay characters left me pondering the animator charged with producing them. That would be an interesting time at work.
The sad, introverted Grace is absorbed by snails and keeps a collection of everything “snail”: ceramic pieces, pictures, figurines, and even live snails she keeps in a jar. The snail itself mirrors Grace’s lonely, solitary life, with each day slowly moving forward at, dare I say, a “snail’s pace.”
Grace is taken under the wing of the quite elderly but quirky Pinky (Jacki Weaver), who cares for her uniquely and is Grace’s saving grace. The film’s storyline meanders and, I suppose, mirrors a snail’s winding, circular shell. Those whorls on that shell go nowhere, and I thought that’s where this film story might end up, though it finally reaches a roundabout conclusion. Thanks once again, Pinky.
Elliot is undoubtedly a brilliant stop-motion animator who pays total attention to the tiniest detail; his resume certainly speaks to that. However, his story writing is not at the same level of quality. I found it a bit immature and catering to the animation rather than the quite effective animation supporting a story that rose to the same level. I will be back for his next film, however, as it’s an art form to be appreciated and enjoyed, and obviously one Elliot is obsessed with.
In Theaters Friday, November 8th
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