I’m not the sort of person to seek out film trailers, or keep on top of new releases. When I see a trailer, it is almost always when I am sitting in the cinema to see something different, my hand is rummaging around at the bottom of an already empty popcorn bag, and I’m getting bored of the adverts1. In the case of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (henceforth referred to as the far simpler, Marcel, or Marcel the Shell) I was watching a fairly fairly mediocre Jim Broadbent film. The trailer for Marcel blew me away instantly.
Waiting is for those with more time than me, so I bought it on Amazon and dove straight in and what an incredibly charming, tragic, hilarious, and beautiful film it is too.
Marcel the Shell is a feature-length film based on a series of short videos published to YouTube around twelve years ago. Marcel is a stop-motion animated shell, living with his grandmother after the rest of his community went missing a couple of years prior. The story is shot from the perspective of Dean who meets Marcel when he moves into the house that Marcel resides in2. What follows is an incredibly well crafted journey through discovery and loss, all through the charmingly funny musings of Marcel himself.
The dialogue especially blew me away, to the extent that half way through the film I exclaimed, quite geuinely, my surprise that someone had actually sat down with their favourite writing implement and written it. Smarter people than me have said that good dialogue is invisible, it doesn’t draw attention to itself, it is natural and immersive, and moves the story forward. This is helped, perhaps, by the documentary framing device, where Marcel is free to talk within the bounds of his own thoughts without forwarding an actual plot, but it is seamless throughout.
I can’t mention the dialogue without also mentioning Jenny Slate, whose performance as Marcel is perfect. Before this film, I had only seen her in Parks and Rec, where she plays a spoilt but hilarious rich-kid. A world away from this more nuanced role.
Overall, it is easily my favourite film I’ve seen this year and one I will definitely revist more than a few times. Was this review too gushing? Maybe. Who cares. It’s a great film, and I loved it.