Memoir of a Snail tells a harrowing dark story about life’s struggles through the eyes of Adam Elliot’s clayography work.
Stop motion. It’s a form of animation that takes a lot of practice and patience to perfect. Some of the best animated films are in fact stop-motion, such as Coraline by LAIKA. It’s the most intriguing form of animation, as it’s very much hands-on work and can involve some of the most creative and well-detailed production design that you can see on a film.
It’s a fascinating animation technique that allows for many different ways of story telling and personally is the best way to tell a story that is aimed at adults; it helps it feel more real. Adam Elliot won an Academy Award all the way back in 2004 for Best Animated Short. It has been regarded as one of the top 100 animated films of all time by the board of Annecy Animation Festival. This wasn’t to be his last project that was critically acclaimed, as he released his first feature film, Mary and Max, in 2009 and now has returned in 2024 with his second feature film.
Memoir of a Snail follows Grace Pudl (Sarah Snook), a lonely woman who hoards snails and recounts the tragic story of her life.
“Goddamn life! Such a stupid puzzle.” Life is extremely complicated, and this line, which is said in the film, encapsulates the meaning of it perfectly, or at least the best understanding of it we can conceive. Not one person can put together what life is supposed to really consist of; it’s different for everyone, but for Grace Pudl, it never started off well. She lost her mother, lost her father, and got separated from her brother, Gilbert Pudl (Kodi Smit-McPhee).
Adam Elliot coined a term called ‘Clayography’ which is what he calls the film he makes. It’s the combination of Claymation and biographical stories. Although Memoir of a Snail is based on any specific true story, it is about a character’s life, and given the name of the film, it’s structured exactly like a memoir. It’s a film that delves heavy into life’s hardships and tries to overcome them, but instead of metaphorically teaching us how to do so, it boils it all down to the harsh reality of it all with animation that depicts this dark world in which we all live and let affect us on a daily basis.
It’s a tragic and dark film that doesn’t shy away from the thoughts that haunt people when they’re alone with no other option left. There’s a metaphor that’s used relating to how snails never backtrack on their path and only ever move forward. It’s some times that push in life we need to continue moving on forward because unless you let go of the past, there will never be any other way to progress, and Adam Elliot is really able to showcase this through Grace’s behaviours and how she reacts to all the bad happenings in her life.
The film isn’t all doom and gloom; although life may not be paving the exact way he expected it to, there can sometimes still be some happiness at the end of the road. In Memoir of a Snail, it comes in the form of characters that Grace meets along the way, such as Ian and Nerelle (Paul Capsis), the couple who takes Grace in after she’s separated from her brother. At first they seem like a normal happy couple that are thrilled to finally have a daughter, but then it’s shockingly revealed that they’re swingers. It’s moments like this and Grace’s interaction with Pinky (Jack Weaver) that really help showcase the depth of humanity.
Memoir of a Snail is a film that tells a story about life hardships through the eyes of Grace, but Adam Elliot never once forgets to also show the good that can exist in a depressing world. With all of Adam Elliot’s work, he has always managed to depict the harsh reality of simply living through his intricately handcrafted world that’s full of so much detail. If the film already didn’t feel full of life, Sarah Snook brings a gentle, delicate, and caring voice to Grace to help further bring heart to this already touching story.
Memoir of a Snail releases in theatres October 25 in the US.
