Les escargots

A struggling farmer discovers that his tears make his lettuces grow massive. Sadly this also applies to the snails who feed on the crop. They soon set off and terrorise a city causing widespread destruction.

It's a very basic and silly story-line. It's really only there to allow for some memorable images. It's an early bit of work from Fantastic Planet creator René Laloux. Like others from the director it's has one foot firmly in the surrealist camp. It also reminded me quite a bit of the kind of animation that Terry Gilliam would go on to be famous for in Monty Python. It seems to be influenced partially by sci-fi schlock movies where over-sized creatures run rampant terrorising the local population. But more than anything this is a comedy. It's even occasionally quite funny with scenes of the farmer devising way to ensure he keeps on crying, he wanders his fields reading Hamlet and later with a device that hammers him repeatedly on the head. It's overall too short and slight to make too much of an impression but it's a fun film nevertheless.