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A Miserable But Touching Memoir of a Snail

Adam Elliot’s animation is pitiably sad -intrinsically sadder than anything I’ve seen in stop-motion animation. Perhaps it’s because his character style matches the overt expressiveness of broad cartoons -and a particular affinity for drooping eyes and faces- with the tangibility of clay; or it’s his extremely pale and dreary aesthetic that is like Tim Burton by way of Michael Haneke; or it could just be he knows how to channel misery visually in a way so rare to see in animation, in part because it’s taboo but also because it comes from a place of honesty. It’s unclear how much his latest film and only his second feature, Memoir of a Snail, is based in fact -he doesn’t seem to have experienced its litany of tragedies but he ascribes to his own term of “clayography” regarding his work. Clearly this story came from somewhere real.
And it is not a pleasant place, wherever it may be -ultimate silver lining notwithstanding. Memoir of a Snail is a very depressing affair, in spite of its animation and patches of humour -some of this quite dark or demented. It can come close to overwhelming in moments, and yet there’s still something humane and affecting in this pity pit, to quote one of its characters. There is a genuine heart that beats through the movie, not consistently, but it is enough to ward off a totally nihilistic edge.
The frank and bleakly sardonic voiceover by Sarah Snook helps, casting the troubles of her Grace Pudel in some relief. Grace, a lonely girl with a cleft lip and a love of snails, grows up with her twin brother Gilbert in 1970s Melbourne, their mother having died shortly after their birth and their father -a former French street performer- is a paraplegic alcoholic suffering from sleep apnea. When he dies, the two children are put into foster care and sent to opposite ends of the country, Grace spending years longing for them to be reunited as she meanders through her life and a series of disappointments. Gilbert’s tribulations are relayed to her through letters.
There is a very Australian character to the film in its sensibility towards harsh subject matter, and some cases outright trauma, being coloured by that certain cynical grim humour. It’s different from say, British self-deprecation, it feels like its own manner of cultural coping mechanism and it is effective in some corners of the movie -like the discussion of the back-to-back deaths of the two husbands of elderly eccentric Pinky (voiced by Jacki Weaver), who becomes Grace’s only friend- less so when dealing with the violent religious extremism of the foster family Gilbert is shackled to in Perth. The animation goes hard on caricature, to the degree you can really feel Elliot's anger or disgust coming to the fore, especially in these scenes. To a degree it is meant to be unpleasant and demoralizing. In this, as well as the movie's very adult corridors (nudity and even moments of violence), there's a little of Ralph Bakshi influence to be found; but this movie is as sentimental as it is cynical in spite of all the dreary material.
And you can't deny that the animation is interesting and impressive. Unlike a lot of stop-motion lately that utilizes a variety of materials and techniques (not to diminish that style which can be perfectly admirable in its own right), Memoir of a Snail is made almost entirely from clay and clay-like products. For lack of a better word, there's something pure in that -Elliot and his animators do not appear to have compromised anything from their short film days. And it feels very connected, especially in its crudeness, to the kind of animation you yourself might have experimented with at some point in your life, only on a much smaller scale. Perhaps that crossfire of tones might ring nostalgic as well.
The movie’s degree of earnestness is palpable, clothed as it is in irony and sadness. There’s something very real and relatable to Grace’s story -the kind of life marked by disappointments and crushing realizations that don’t get much cinematic attention, especially in animated form. That loneliness she experiences her whole life is especially resonating -parts of it you can feel personally, other parts you might connect to someone you’ve met. And Snook’s vocal performance is not sparing, articulating both the value and crutch in the few things Grace is able to truly cherish -her relationship with Gilbert, and her snails- in large part because she lacks the confidence and will to find more in her life. It’s why the relationship with Pinky is so vital, and the source of the movie’s rare genuinely endearing moments. And Elliot puts a lot of thought into these themes, into the harshness that we eventually learn has shaped Pinky as much as Grace. Not to justify it, but to point towards the way out for Grace’s sake, and perhaps the viewer’s too.
There is reprieve ultimately, if it feels a touch disingenuous. Realism is not especially a priority on this film, but the ending is just a bit too clean for credibility. And yet I can sympathize with Elliot not wanting the bleakness of the most devastating plot development to overshadow what is otherwise merely a tenuous optimism. Condensing roughly forty years of a life only to go out on a note of modest pseudo-contentment may be more honest, but Elliot made the choice to offer catharsis. A significant influence it would appear in both structure and aesthetic was Roald Dahl, and I think Elliot understood the importance of those Dahl resolutions.
But an adult Dahl, make no mistake -which probably accounts for some of that dissonance. Memoir of a Snail is in some manner a movie of extremes -despair matched by vitriol matched by off-colour humour. This doesn't always work out for the movie, the rawness of which can be dismaying at times. But by the same token, it is unusually compelling -a perhaps slightly less tasteful version of a classic bildungsroman, and one that does hit today. It is if nothing else a triumph of form, I daresay in style more intriguing than the new Wallace & Gromit movie. Elliot and everyone else who painstakingly put it together should be proud.

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