The Last Great Snail Chase

Tuesday night we went to the cast & crew premiere of Ed Lynden-Bell’s movie, The Last Great Snail Chase. Ed is a mate, and used to flat with Cal; at the start when producer David White said “you’re all here because you helped somehow” I figured that must include moral support. I certainly promised Ed I’d get stuck in to lend a hand in a more concrete way, but, er, never quite did. Oh well.
The movie was made on an absolute shoestring, relying on goodwill from everyone, conserving what little money was available for inescapable technical requirements like film, cameras and lighting. Actors and crew and musicians all worked for nothing, locations were secured through favours or for a beer or two, and a last-minute drive to get the CGI rendered was achieved by sending out an email asking people to donate their computers for a few days. A lot of love was lavished on this film.
As it turns out, the film deserves it. It’s a deeply strange piece of film-making, thoroughly engaging and prone to leap into the most wonderful flights of fancy. It tells a bunch of interwoven tales about the inhabitants of a small Wellington flat, following them through troubles in love and in work and watching them emerge slowly into adulthood. It also features a disembodied shadow, large numbers of flying turtles, a suspended tidal wave, a dreamlike art gallery, bumblebee rescue, a Roman centurion, and the devil’s cousin. It’s the kind of film that makes you wonder how on earth it got made, so idiosyncratic is its vision; and then makes you grateful that it was.
It’s a heck of a lot of fun, and quite wonderful. Not all of it comes off and the acting is a bit ropey in places, but there’s so much heart on display here it would be churlish to hold these limitations against it. (Especially if you know how little money was spent to create the film!) I hope the CGI (much of it unfinished at this screening) comes together as well as it promises to, and that the film finds its audience. It does have one. Possibly you?
Release date unknown as of yet.
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More Geeks on Dates from Susan: “…if we wanted stringent and contrived rules in our personal relationships we’d have been popular in our teens.”.
And be sure to listen to Thou Shalt Always Kill, music that is the new awesome. Lyrics here; yes, it does include the line “Thou shalt not question Stephen Fry”. My new favourite song, taking over from It’s All In Your Head (C’Mon C’Mon) by Kupek, a.k.a. Bryan Lee O’Malley (creator of scenester comic of choice Scott Pilgrim).