Adam Elliot is known for making depressingly funny films. The latest from the Australian clay animator, Memoir of a Snail, is no exception. He takes a mostly gray and brown palette and combines visual body humor and blunt affect to create a sweet, yet macabre tale about two siblings and their dreary upbringing.
Grace (voiced by Sarah Snook) narrates the film, recounting her life from birth to the present to her pet snail, Slyvia. Born with a cleft palette that made her look like a rabbit, Grace struggles to fit in at school and the death of her mother and a neglectful alcoholic father doesn’t make life any easier. Her one solace in life, besides her love of snails, is her twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee), a brave young man obsessed with fire and keeping her safe. When their father dies and the two go into foster care, they are separated for the rest of their childhoods.
The story then recounts the detours and misfortunes each twin takes and endures to get back to each other. Parts are funny like Pinkie (Jacki Weaver), an elderly woman Grace befriends who builds her confidence. Other parts are dark, like Grace’s marriage to a man force-feeding her to satisfy a fetish. Gilbert’s story told through his letters to Grace, has a Dickensian feel. You don’t know what tragically funny waters Elloit is going to play in, watching where the story goes is half the fun.
Even though it’s animated, Memoir of a Snail is not for kids and it makes that clear early in the film’s runtime, with a masturbating magistrate. Besides nudity, references to fetishes and sexual misconduct are made. This is a cautionary fairy tale for adults. There is a naivete to Grace’s character and a simpleness to the storytelling but it’s definitely not for kids.
Adam Elliot’s last film Mary and Max came out 15 years ago. Despite a short in 2015, he has not directed much in that time. While infrequent, Elliot’s distinct style and voice are needed in animation. In a world where Disney/Pixar monopolizes a corner of the market, it’s nice to have something dark, sweet, and traumatic to feast your eyes on every once and a while.
Memoir of a Snail is in theaters now. Watch the trailer below.
