Fauve (2018)

Fauve Review

Fauve is a 2018 Canadian live-action short film which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short Film. It’s a terrific short.

Fauve follows two boys who play near an open pit mine and unfortunately tragedy strikes as one of the boys falls into the quicksand and dies. But the other boy pushed him there so he has to cope with being the one responsible for his friend’s death. I personally wanted a bit more depth here and that entire conversation in the car with the woman who took the boy felt too prolonged, but most of the film plays out as a very dramatic, thrilling survival drama.

I liked the boys’ performances very much and I found both of them so realistic as this is how the boys play in real life and that power play is so well established here. I also loved the film’s location which is striking and deadly while the atmosphere is very dangerous and it indicates that something bad is going to happen from the very first scene. The fox shot is also quite memorable.

Fauve is a thrilling, dramatic survival short with a striking location, dangerous atmosphere and a tragic story.