Memoir of a Snail: Humanism Told Through Clay
Memoir of a Snail is an introspective, cathartic and poignant look at overcoming grief and trauma, told beautifully through gorgeous stop motion animation.
Memoir of a Snail is the latest animated feature by Adam Elliot, the man responsible for the highly acclaimed and lovely film Mary and Max which is considered by many now to be one of the greatest animated features of all time. It’s a miracle of a movie, where Adam Elliot is able to explore the darkest aspects of humanity and human connection and still find the humor and levity in it without ever feeling mockish or superficial.
Adam Elliot does a similar feat with his newest film Memoir of a Snail, the coming of age story of a girl named Grace Puddle, voiced terrifically by Sarah Snook. It is the story of misfortune and loss as Grace tries to navigate life despite tragedy striking around every corner. I didn’t know much about all of the misfortune that happened to Grace in the film so I will keep it vague here because my mouth was agape the entire time and my heart ached for Grace.
Memoir of a Snail is a different type of animated film we don’t get much of nowadays. This is an incredibly adult film filled with dark subject matter. In Mary and Max, Adam Elliot is able to juxtapose the humor quite well and in Memoir he does a similar balancing act showing such a wide range of emotions. The dark humor never compromises what he is trying to say emotionally, it just heightens the whole experience.
This film tackles themes like substance abuse, abandonment issues and voyeurism, yet the film’s overall message is one of optimism. I want to convey this in the review because there is a certain part of this movie you will get to and probably think “wow, is this just misery porn? Am I just supposed to wallow in Grace Puddle’s suffering?” and I assure you- this is not the case. There is so much catharsis to be found in this movie. A lot of the film's catharsis is found in the character Pinky, an eccentric old lady Grace becomes friends with. Pinky has a monologue towards the last part of the film I believe should give the film an original screenplay nomination at The Oscars. The message she is conveying here isn’t one we’ve never heard of before (one could argue this film's overall thesis is one we’ve seen in several Disney movies in the past) however, the way it is conveyed here is nothing short of poignant. It stopped me dead in my tracks and filled me up with all sorts of emotions.
The film is gorgeous to look at. You can tell why Adam Elliot took over ten years developing this movie. Every detail is so articulate and well structured. The characters would read various books throughout, a lot of classic literature titles that would even give details to who they are as characters and the place in life they found themselves in. I love catching onto details like that and they are everywhere in this film. The production design is just immaculate and I’ll never not be in awe of the complete artistry that is stop motion animation. It was the perfect way to tell this somber film with a touch of humor. In live action, this film would have felt false. Adam Elliot, in being able to design his vision to screen captures the pathos of humanity with clay better than ninety nine percent of films that have living breathing actors and actresses in them. The voice performances here are also incredible. I would argue that Sarah Snook, who voices Grace, gives one of the single best vocal performances I’ve ever heard. The amount of humanity and genuine empathy she is able to breathe into this character is genuinely skillful and I would give her some awards attention for her performance. It’s the best vocal performance I’ve heard since Will Arnett in the Free Churro episode of Bojack Horseman.
The film does share a lot in tone with Bojack Horseman, which is maybe why I attached to it so deeply. The film is able to show the darkest aspects of humanity you’ll ever see in an uncompromising fashion, but offer some well thought out truths about the human condition that anyone can resonate with. The film is showing how cruel and unusual life can be- but how we can also use life’s narrative to write our own story. In the trailer the line is said “we can only understand life backwards, but we have to live it forward,” which is something I haven’t been able to stop thinking about since seeing the movie. Snails can only move forward, and maybe we could all learn more from snails than we realize. Maybe, fear and stagnation keeps us locked in our own cages and we can escape our cages at any time, we just need the motivation to do so. It’s one of the most introspective films I’ve seen so far this year and genuinely one of the best movies of the year - or any other year.
