Overview
The year that Adam Elliot’s Mary and Max reached cinemas, Sarah Snook earned her first on-screen credit in an episode of All Saints. A decade and a half later, the Oscar-winning Australian animator and the Succession star have joined forces on Memoir of a Snail. Elliott finally has a new stop-motion feature sliding into picture palaces, with Snook lending her voice to the lonely Grace Pudel, the coming-of-age tale’s protagonist with a story to spin.
Fresh from locking in its Australian premiere as the opening-night flick at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival, Memoir of a Snail has just dropped its first trailer to give audiences a glimpse at what’s in store. Get ready for Elliot’s distinctive animation style — because no one makes clay in shades of brown, black and grey look as expressive as the Melbourne talent — bringing Grace’s existence to life. Get ready for snails almost everywhere, too, including as clocks, music boxes, hats and ornaments.
“Dad used to say that childhood was like being drunk: everyone remembers what you did except you,” explains Snook as Grace to begin this debut peek at Elliot’s long-awaited sophomore feature. “But I remember everything,” she continues. As Grace talks through the details, snails don’t merely feature heavily, clearly giving the picture a metaphor for its lead character — in the movie, the book-loving, shy and anxious Grace is also relaying her experiences to a snail called Sylvia.
As it charts a trail of loss, angst, friendship and learning to embrace life, that Memoir of a Snail is bowing on home soil at MIFF couldn’t be more fitting. It’s “about Melbourne, made by Melburnians and voiced by Melburnians,” said Elliott when the festival revealed the flick as its launch pick. To make that connection clear even just in this initial teaser, the trailer includes St Kilda’s Luna Park.
Joining Snook in the voice cast is a who’s who of Australian talent, such as Kodi Smit-McPhee (Elvis), Eric Bana (Force of Nature: The Dry 2), Tony Armstrong (Tony Armstrong’s Extra-Ordinary Things), Nick Cave (The Electrical Life of Louis Wain), Jacki Weaver (Hello Tomorrow!) and Magda Szubanski (After the Trial) — and also French actor Dominique Pinon (The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon).
After playing MIFF, Memoir of a Snail will hit Australian cinemas in general release on Thursday, October 17, 2024, with this year not only marking 15 years since Mary and Max, but 20 years since Elliot won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film for Harvie Krumpet.
Check out the trailer for Memoir of a Snail below:
Memoir of a Snail releases in Australian cinemas on Thursday, October 17, 2024.