A life of tragedy is recounted in Memoir of a Snail, a melancholic stop-motion animated film for mature audiences from writer/director Adam Elliot (Mary and Max).

Following the death of their closest friend, Grace (voiced by Sarah Snook of HBO’s Succession and Netflix’s Run Rabbit Run) frees one of her pet snails. From the time it takes the snail to leave Grace and arrive to its garden destination, Grace reflects on her life leading up to this heartbreak; which has included losing her parents on separate occasions and becoming separated from her twin brother Gilbert (voiced by The Power of the Dog Oscar nominee Kodi Smit-McPhee) through the foster system. Despite the distance, Grace and Gilbert keep in touch through letter mail as they experience their own personal coming-of-age.

A strange and beautiful trip, Elliot doesn’t allude to anything with Memoir of a Snail as each trauma is faced head-on. While this cataloguing may be overwhelming for some movie goers who have experienced similar triggering events, the stop-motion animation does a fantastic job emoting and empathizing with Elliot’s screenplay. With such brilliant attention to facial detail, Grace and Gilbert have warm demeanours that carry the audience through their hardships; leading to gratifying messages about the strength we gain from grief.

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Addison Wylie: @AddisonWylie