| Director: | Adam Elliot |
| Producer: | Liz Kearney Adam Elliot |
| Starring: | Sarah Snook Kodi Smit-McPhee Eric Bana Magda Szubanski Dominique Pinon Tony Armstrong Jacki Weaver |
| Music: | Elena Kats-Chernin |
| Cinematography: | Gerald Thompson |
| Editing: | Bill Murphy |
| Studio: | Arenamedia Snails Pace Films |
| Distributor: | Madman Entertainment |
| Runtime: | 94 minutes |
| Country: | Australia |
| Language: | English |
Memoir of a Snail is a 2024 Australian adult stop-motion animated comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Adam Elliot. It stars the voices of Sarah Snook, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Eric Bana, Magda Szubanski, Dominique Pinon, Tony Armstrong, and Jacki Weaver.[1]
The film had its world premiere at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on 10 June 2024, and is scheduled to be released in Australia by Madman Entertainment on 17 October 2024.
Grace, a young girl in 1970s Australia, begins collecting snails after her mother's death. She and her twin brother Gilbert live with their father Percy, a former juggler who is now paraplegic with an alcohol use disorder. The siblings are close despite this adversity, and Gilbert defends Grace from schoolmates who tease her for her cleft lip.[2] [3]
The twins are separated when their father dies in his sleep, sent to foster homes hundreds of miles away from each other. Grace moves in with a swinger couple, Ian and Narelle, in Canberra, while Gilbert is sent to a family of religious fundamentalists in Western Australia.
Grace eventually befriends an elderly woman named Pinky, who is there for Grace as she grows up and begins to faces challenges as an adult, including a short-lived marriage to a microwave mechanic. When Pinky dies, Grace brings her ashes to the vegetable garden and sets her jar of snails free.[4]
Memoir of a Snail was developed over an eight-year period. Filming occurred in Melbourne in May 2023.[6] [7] In February 2024, it was announced that Sarah Snook was cast as the lead.[5]
Memoir of a Snail premiered on 10 June 2024 at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, where it won the Cristal Award for a Feature Film.[8] [9] [10] The film will be released in Australia by Madman Entertainment on 17 October 2024, and in the United States by IFC Films on 25 October 2024 as a limited release, followed by a wider release in November.
Peter Debruge of Variety commended director Adam Elliot's dedication to a "dark and surprisingly moving brand of storytelling" and praised the film's voice cast and score. In Deadline, Stephanie Bunbury noted repetitive elements of the plot and dialogue but argued that these flaws underscored the film's themes of human imperfection.