PHOTO © A24
Jhe charming and lovable “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” provides irrefutable proof that heartwarming humor not only can exist, it’s delicious.
Many on the more cynical and grumpy side of things (territory I frequently inhabit) will tell you that comedy has to be transgressive, or at least contrary, and cannot be delivered in an assertive package. Yet in this beautiful work, which mixes live action and clever stop-motion animation, belly laughs interrupt tears and nostalgic sighs. There’s not much like “Marcel the Shell.”
The title character, voiced and created by deeply underrated actress Jenny Slate, is… well, a shell. It’s a one-inch seashell with an eye and a pair of pink sneakers; he lives in a series of Lilliputian structures inside an AirBNB with his grandmother, Connie (Isabella Rossellini). There were a bunch of extra shells around, but they were accidentally blown away when the house’s former human residents went through a rupture.
A budding documentary filmmaker — Dean Fleischer-Camp, who directs both a movie and a movie within a movie — is now staying at AirBNB, and he decides to upload a bit of Marcel’s story to YouTube. (It’s a meta-moment; Marcel first appeared in 2010 in a Fleischer-Camp short, itself distributed online.) The world is charmed by the precocious shell, and Marcel hopes his new popularity will help him reunite with his family.
“Marcel the Shell” is a film about the joys and limits of communities, real and online. It’s not unrealistic either; the potential of the internet and its capacity for toxicity are unflinchingly presented, and while Marcel revels in the presence of others, he also resists constant socialization. Few commentaries on the complex and nuanced realities of 21st century human interaction are so precise; while saying little verbatim (the screenplay is also by Slate and Fleischer-Camp, with Nick Paley), “Marcel the Shell” shows something deep.
Besides, it’s funny. Very funny. This is largely due to Slate, who is not only a compelling actress, but one of the funniest in the world. Too often relegated to supporting roles and voice roles, she has a mastery of timing and tone that is anything but unmatched. I’ve looked at more than enough star vehicles for performers who don’t have half the capabilities of Slate; let’s start throwing her into everything, please.
I won’t be too bitter about it, though, because Marcel wouldn’t. Although it’s a comedy, it’s an emotionally cathartic teardrop about loss, change, and coming of age. For every laugh I heard in the auditorium, there was a muffled sob. I admit I didn’t go into “Marcel the Shell” expecting to be moved; I shouldn’t have been so jaded. This is not a fun or cute project; it is simply a remarkable film.
My rating: 9/10
“Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” is now playing in Pittsburgh.
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