MEMOIR OF A SNAIL COMPLETELY SNUBBED AT THE OSCARS WTF!!!!
when something is done with so much LOVE and dedication and tears, IT SHOWS! and this is perhaps the most human and emotional intelligent film that animated cinema has seen in many years!!

"The worst cages are the ones we create for ourselves [...] Your cage has never been locked... but your fears have kept you trapped. Get rid of those snails! Set yourself free. [...] Now it's time to shed your shell. Start anew. A bit of self-pity is OK, but it's time to move on. There'll be pain but that's life. You have to face it head-on. Be brave."

😭
a testament to the enduring nature of hope when you're in life's darkest corners. because hope in its authentic and lasting form has to be born from the shadows of suffering, but can only be engendered by tenderness and love. i mean, sometimes you think life is too much but then a warm gesture from a stranger or a memory of a loved one or even just a good book or film can shift your perspective to live life at its fullest.

Memoir of a Snail is in its very essence a spiral, and therefore a snail. a story in constant movement, full of ups and downs. a story where so many bad things permeated by death and loss happen to the protagonist Grace to the point you ask yourself, how much tragedy a human being can bear?? and still she maintains this warmth and kindness towards others. and she is not a brave heroine or someone super intelligent. in fact, during a particular depressive period in her life she ends up becoming a hoarder and a kleptomaniac, staying shut at home. and still she has hopes and dreams, but life's circumstances prevent her from following them. life passes quickly and although she meets both good and bad people she is aware that she's not doing everything she could be doing. she shrinks slowly into herself, she feels locked in a cage of her own, just like snails, this beings that crawl at a very slow pace BUT can't go backwards (neither can we), who retreat into themselves, who may get stuck in circles, but ultimately move forward.

Gracie shows us how for the most part depression is internalized, and not outwardly expressed. she doesn't have to say anything for us to know how she is coping (or rather, not), we just see her sit in silence with little tears welling up in her eyes. we feel her in a shell, a materialization of an armored fragility in which to find refuge from which to observe and allow oneself to feel in order to assume the pain. and in the end we don't have to see every step of the way to know that someone never gave up.
in this cruel world it's up to us to make the world better as a whole and for ourselves. the only limits are those you place on yourself, so it's up to us to leave behind the shell we were shoved into and just like a snail, move forwards and be happy 😭

"All things can be repaired and our cracks celebrated."