Film Review #89: MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

Film Review #89: MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON

2023 was a year filled with intensely emotional films that caught many of us off-guard. From Jerzy Skolimowski’s EO right at the start with barely any dialogues yet, keeping us all at the edge of our seats with tension, to (what I personally refer to as THE break-up film of the year) the heart-wrenching and absolutely frustrating The Banshees of Inisherin (at which point I thought donkeys might be the animal of 2023 to break our hearts) to the highly anticipated Barbie that moved audiences to feel and think in so many things we never had the words for before… 2023 was truly a big year for cinema, but looking back, the one film that I still find myself revisiting in my mind is Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (2022). I have always believed that the most important movies are the ones that change us in some way, and Marcel the Shell with Shoes On will transform you by the end of 90 minutes. 

Credit: IMDB

Marcel the Shell with Shoes On came to theatres in Singapore later than its international releases in other countries, so there was already a lot of buzz about it before I finally had the chance to watch it during the Mental Health Film Festival Singapore in early November 2023. Marcel’s undeniable cuteness was already raved about, and Jenny Slate was the perfect person to give Marcel his unique confident stuttering, but nothing could have prepared me for the juxtaposition of childlike naivety and surprisingly mature self-awareness that landed so many poignant moments.

Credit: IMDB

The film starts right off the bat with interview footage for the documentary that Dean decides to make when he meets Marcel. Instantly, so many layers of metaness are attached to the themes of the film. Dean is not only the director of the fictional documentary, but also the director of Marcel the Shell with Shoes On, the film is a feature adaptation from his previous short film which he co-wrote with Jenny Slate. The way Marcel explains to his Nana Connie what a documentary is (“it’s like a movie, but nobody has any lines and nobody even knows what it is while they’re making it”), and the ways in which Marcel’s world exists in tandem to ours, provides much needed relatability and simultaneously accentuates the art of documentary filmmaking. Marcel’s innocence and wit also allow the film to call out repugnant behaviours in our society with unfiltered critical observations that stem from Marcel’s confusion or frustration as he interacts more with the human world and deals with the pros and cons of sharing his life online, shining light on the influencer culture in today’s society where there is a tendency to get caught up on fast trends.



Credit: IMDB

We start by learning how Marcel gets around a big human house and how he survives day-to-day. Though this starts off as a way to set the scene and provide context to who Marcel is, it slowly weaves into the bigger narrative of Marcel’s lost family members, and often provides comic relief at times where things get a bit too heavy, allowing the film to do an incredible job at being palatable and avoiding melodrama. This mechanic also becomes the catalyst for Dean to get more emotionally attached to Marcel, and there is a constant tension of whether or not Dean will break the rule of documentarians to not interfere with their subjects.