MARCEL, THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
US, 2021, 90 minutes, Colour.
Dean Fleischer-Camp, Shari Finkelstein, Lesley Stahl. Voices of Jenny's Slate, Isabella Rossellini.
Directed by Dean Fleischer-Camp.
Who is Marcel – and why a Shell with Shoes On?
The first question is easy enough to answer: Marcel is a 1 inch high shell (but with a very large roving eye) who lives in the city and has been separated, along with his Nanna, Connie, from his bigger shell family. They are lost. That part of the an was easy – but we should add that Marcel began his media life as a short film, then a You Tube serial, devised by writer-director, Dean Fleischer Camp in 2012 with his then wife, Jenny’s Slate. In 2021, Marcel finds himself with Connie, who has suffered an injury, cracking her shell, at Dean Fleischer-Camp’s home, and agreed to be the centre of a documentary he is making, Dean continually filming but this eventually becoming a bit wearing for Marcel). Chapman-Camp is working once again with Jenny Slate, in the writing, in her voicing Marcel, an adult actress performing like a little male shell.
Marcel and Connie and their activities are filmed with stop motion techniques and puppetry.
And the second question: why the shoes? This reviewer must have missed the explanation. But we do notice that after Connie’s death, Marcel’s shoes are painted, from the red to the black.
In fact, the plot becomes quite complicated, Marcel eager to find the previous owner of Dean’s house who took the drawer full of other shells with them. So, something of a quest. And of the film spends a lot of time in showing Marcel’s bond with his Nanna, Connie. And, sad when she is declining in health and dies.
With Dean continually filming, and Marcel not averse to the media, especially liking compere, Lesley Stahl, on the US 60 Minutes show, there is a great emphasis on media, with Dean developing little movies on the activities of Marcel and putting them on You Tube (as actually happened in the past with the short films). But Marcel is delighted when the producer of 60 Minutes phones, requesting a story, and the crew all arrive at Dean’s house for filming, quite elaborate setup with so many people in the house -Dean enjoying the interview, and Marcel responding nicely and politely for the cameras.
Later, we do see the program and Marcel’s plea for locating the family who took the shells – and, with the power of the media, or, at least, 60 Minutes, the family is located working in Guatemala! Happy ending, of course.
It is hoped that this description helps audiences decide whether they would like to make Marcel’s acquaintance. If there is any doubt, best to check the many blog comments on the IMDb, fans who love Marcel, cute, adorable, healing the heart… And that has been the critical response, especially in the United States.
(So, a wary postscript to this review to say that this reviewer found Marcel and his adventures far too twee!)
