Memoir of a Snail

The second movie in my double feature at the Broadway last night was Memoir of a Snail and I was surprised by how often I laughed out loud during a movie that is so melancholy.  After the death of her eccentric friend Pinky (Jacki Weaver), Grace (Sarah Snook) releases her favorite snail into Pinky's garden and begins telling it her life story.  She has a series of misadventures, the worst of which is when she and her twin brother Gilbert (Kodi Smit-McPhee) are separated after the death of their parents and she is sent to live with a pair of swingers in Canberra while he is sent to live with members of a religious cult in Perth.  As her life becomes bleaker and bleaker, she retreats into herself just like the snails she obsessively collects hide inside their shells.  It is only when she receives a posthumous letter from Pinky that she finds the courage to come out of her shell and begin living her life (after so much trauma there is a happy ending).  I really loved the stop-motion animation because the style (all of the characters look like blobs of clay with exaggerated features) really suits the dark themes while providing so much comedy (I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe when Grace gets a perm).  I also loved the voice cast, especially when Magda Szubanski and Bernie Clifford (who play Gilbert's abusive foster parents) speak gibberish during their religious ceremonies.  The humor is incredibly dry and I loved it whenever I would notice something hilarious seemingly hidden on the screen (pay attention to everything, especially the names of books and what is written on all of the signs) and the messages are poignant (my favorite one is that kindness will eventually be repaid).  This strange little movie is one of my favorites this year and I highly recommend it!