Click here to listen to the interview.
Adam Elliot’s MEMOIR OF A SNAIL is an animated film that transcends its genre. Definitely not for children, it is an almost Dickensian tale of Grace Pudel, hoarder of snails, romance novels, and guinea pigs. Born to tragedy, Grace faces her life in 1970 Canberra with quiet courage as she faces bullying and familial disintegration. When she meets Pinky, a geriatric eccentric with more life in her little finger than the rest of the city in which they both live, Grace finds a true friend and a glimpse of how life might be. Though a simple story, it is imbued with deep philosophical undertones, so it did not surprise me when Elliot quoted Kierkegaard when we spoke via Zoom on October 14, 2024.
Told with poignant detail about the small joys of life amid a great deal of sadness, MEMOIR OF A SNAIL nonetheless creates a sense of hope that is powerful and inspiring even when life itself seems most hopeless.
I started by interview with Elliot by asking if there was an official recipe for the hash gingerbread people that are part of the plot. We moved on to how he uses family for his own inspiration, why the script went through 16 drafts, and how he balances the tragedy, comedy, and that insistent sense of hope in MEMOIR OF A SNAIL.
The film stars the voice work of Sarah Snook as Grace Sarah Gilbert Kodi Smit-McPhee as Gilbert, Eric Bana as the Magistrate Jacki Weaver as Pinky, Nick Cave as Bill Clark. and Elliot himself as Denise Floyd.
Elliot directed from his own script and his previous work includes MARY AND MAX and HARVIE KRUMPET.
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