ANNECY 2024: Memoir of a Snail Review
When it comes to mainstream movies, we all know which benchmarks to refer to when given the need. If you wish to discuss an underdog story you might say Rocky, if you want to discuss a great plot twist ending you’ll blurt out the ending to Citizen Kane (yeah, thanks mate). Defeating a monster? Jaws is the film for you. You might declare that the ultimate gangster movie is The Godfather Part 2 if you’re trying to be clever, but Goodfellas if you’re being honest. In the world of adult animated feature filmmaking we have our own benchmarks too, which in the past 40 or so years have emerged in a steadily growing quantity. One such benchmark film is Mary and Max a feature that proved that a story of unloved individuals rendered with a limited palette in clay can deliver a potent mixture of humour and pathos making the unloved, much loved.
The film was a huge hit, and like the classics above is still being discovered today allowing audiences to indulge in the dramedy that delivers so much. The film was by no means a one hit wonder for the director Adam Elliot, who was best known for his Oscar win for Harvey Krumpet ahead of that and before then a series of short films detailing the biographical misfortune family members in deadpan detail. So it is with great anticipation Adam Elliot is returning to Annecy for the first time since his short film Ernie Biscuit was premiered, to deliver his new feature Memoir of a Snail.
Memoir of a Snail is the tale of Grace, a woman who we are introduced to in the midsts of tragedy as we meet her beside the deathbed of her best friend Pinkie. Narrating her own tale, Grace (voiced by Sarah Snook) acts as tour guide through her own calamitous life and tells the story of her upbringing through facial surgeries, parental departures, foster care, separation from her devoted twin brother, abusive marriages and hoarding. Hoarding is a vice for Grace but a treat for the audience, who are treated to the detail of a myriad of snail based objects constructed in Elliot’s inimitable style. The detail of this film is superb, as are the pathetic and ugly caricatured cast. The script is tight and well managed too, with every line delivering. For all the hilarious lines in the movie (“Masturbation is the thief of time!”) there are some charming nuggets of wisdom such as “life isn’t about looking backwards it’s about living forwards.” that balance the message of the film delightfully and bolster the relationships that Grace has throughout the feature.
The film took 8 years to complete and was done so on a very tight budget so naturally it will be compared to it’s predecessor. On the surface, is Memoir of a Snail as slick looking as Mary and Max? No. Does it need to be? Also no. These stories are not about the on screen frills, they centre around the character and the delivery, which is done with deft and excellence and in many cases this makes for a more risky film for the director who has crafted something without the gloss and safety net of his previous work and edges closer to the feel of the shorts. Whilst having Mary’s cute shuffle towards the postbox or Max’s lumbering gait through New York City added character, the story here calls for a little less and does not suffer for it, although it is worth noting that when the story calls for more frenzied movement it is served up on a platter. In short Memoir of a Snail is pure, undiluted Adam Elliot where perfection is celebrated through the imperfections.
Though a critical hit, Mary and Max wasn’t a commercial one, which goes some way to explain the time taken to raise finances and shoot the film, but there is hope. Adam Elliot did offer some encouragement when addressing the Annecy crowd in his introduction to the film when he said “It’s a wonderful time to be a stop motion animator, it can lead to so many wonderful places including this wonderful place” given the standing ovation that engulfed the Bonlieu for the entirety of the credits and beyond, this could hopefully be the time for Adam Elliot to hit the mainstream.