Life works in mysterious ways sometimes. I don't know entirely if I believe in fate, but some things just work out perfectly. For example, I was really interested in seeing Memoir of a Snail, then I just so happened to be searching for things to do in Melbourne while in the city and there was an exhibit on featuring models from the film. Excited about said exhibit, I searched showtimes and it turned out on our last day, a theatre in Melbourne was showing an early screening featuring a Q&A with director Adam Elliot. Throw in the fact that Elliot is based in Melbourne and the film takes place in the area, and this was just a perfect storm of things lining up perfectly that I couldn't pass up. Oh, and the movie is terrific.
Elliot's second stop-motion feature follows Grace, a young woman in 1970s Australia whose life is unfortunately riddled with grief. Her mother dies during the birth of her and her twin brother Gilbert, and her father becomes a paraplegic after an accident before eventually passing away and leaving the two as orphans separated into different foster homes. In her loneliness, Grace finds solace in a friend from the library, a handsome neighbor, and her snail collection.
Memoir of a Snail is one of those movies that manages to be both hilarious and heartbreaking. Elliot's bizarre sense of humour and creativity makes this a pretty delightful watch, with his fictionalized version of 70s Australia having a ton of clever jokes and gags that had me and the rest of my audience dying of laughter. Part of the reason this works so well comedically is its medium. While the film is animated it is by no means a movie for kids, with moments of Claymation nudity and pretty graphic jokes and scenes. With animation traditionally being used for younger audiences, it's both refreshing and disorienting to see such adult comedy done in this way, but that only makes it more effective. That being said, I think that youthful wonder of animation really amplifies the film's themes. It ultimately offers us the message that things are going to be okay, and delivering that message with an adult tone but through animation allows that idea to both permeate into your adult self and remind you of your more carefree youth.
The animation is pretty magnificent. As I said before, Elliot creates a wild and hilarious version of Australia here, and I adored the way it was brought to life. I'm someone that prefers tangible things in media, which is why I tend to prefer practical effects over CGI, and I usually hate motion-simulator rides, so stop-motion is the perfect blend of the creative potential of animation and that realness that I prefer watching. I also find the medium just incredibly impressive, as the amount of work and specific detail needed to make it work is astonishing. I loved damn near every character design and set here. Everything has an absurd feel, but rooted in reality so we can see the real life in all the weirdness. The style has a bleak grey look but is somehow also wildly vibrant and creative which I think fits the film perfectly.
The vocal cast also deserves a ton of love. Sarah Snook brings a beautiful sadness to Grace, mastering the melancholy of the character and leaving only a few moments you can tell it's her voice. I'm not the biggest Kodi Smit-McPhee fan, but he does a really great job here voicing Gilbert, and Jacki Weaver is magnificent as Grace's friend Pinky. I really loved this one, it gives us the best of what stop motion animation can offer with a ton of laughs and a touching story that completely sucked me in. 4.5/5
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