Molly Mayhew has made an utterly heartbreaking look at childhood trauma with her short stop-motion animation, Fawn. A terrifically sad story backs up gorgeous designs. Exceptional.

Following the sudden passing of her parents, Fawn is forced to return to a house she hasn’t called home in a very long time. As painful memories begin to seep through, Fawn is thrown onto the difficult path of reconnecting with a past she thought she had left behind.

Words can’t fully convey how fabulous Fawn is. From top to bottom, this is a fantastic, if unbelievably sad, watch. Starting with the character designs themselves. The layered fabric nature of the designs is, as already mentioned, gorgeous. The texture of them and then our creatures is great, and massive props need to go to Rebecca Horne and her team for what they created here. The facial designs allow us to feel so much for Fawn as a character. You really can’t help but be impressed with what was done here from a design aspect.

Then we come to Olivia Murray’s story. It is a wonderful way to show the pain of saying goodbye to your parents by packing up their things, but also with dealing with the untapped or, possibly, in Fawn’s case, the suppressing of her childhood trauma. It is not until she is physically back in the house, knowing that her parents are gone, that she can, in some form, confront and move past her trauma. By showing that with a younger version of herself and how her trauma has now manifested in her parents looking at her is really strong writing. Again, just another aspect to Fawn that impresses you.

Molly Mayhew knocks it out of the park with her direction and animation in Fawn. You feel great sympathy for Fawn at the start, because going to the home your parents will never be in again is difficult enough. But as the story unfolds and the darkness creeps into the film, the horror and the trauma come into play, with the audience holding their breath as to whether Fawn will be overwhelmed by the twisted thoughts of it all to help her younger self, or if she can forge ahead and show that it does indeed get better for herself.

The sense of dread and sadness that comes forth makes you forget, at times, that you’re watching a stop-motion animation. You are quickly and effectively immersed in this world thanks to a carefully constructed atmosphere. Gosh, it again can’t be overstated how much I loved the character designs being in fabric; it brought such a wonderful texture to the entire film.

Fawn really is a faultless seven minutes of animation. Smart decisions are made throughout that you appreciate greatly. Make this a short film you have to watch as soon as you can.

★★★★★

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