Your Mountain Is Waiting

A character - apparently called Martha - who lives above a laundrette, encounters a fox that takes on her on some adventures that may (or may not) be related to the life she has led or wishes she could. The animation is very clever and morphs - frequently using water as a conduit - from urban to rural landscape; from human to animal to plant - all using lively and vivid colours and constantly changing imagery. It reminded me a little of Norman McLaren's innovative dot imagery from 1940 but I cannot say, in all honesty, that I really understood what - if anything - this is actually about. Quirky and worth a watch though.

Your Mountain is Waiting (2021) follows Martha who, after a strange encounter, begins her journey of self-discovery. This short is very minimalist but incredibly sweet! I enjoyed watching it, it's very uplifting and cheerful with some cute animation. However, it's a bit too simple at times and I expected a bit more.

The animation is pretty unique, and pretty basic at times, however it is cute and well-done. There is plenty of bright colours which make for a hypotonic and fun watch. The visuals remind me quite a lot of a music video!

Something I really do like about this short is the sound design and score. The sound mixing is done very well too. The score itself is very feel-good and upbeat, going alongside the animation well.

The movie doesn't have any dialogue, yet I still enjoyed the characters. The main character and the fox interact in a very wholesome manner, and I still think it's easy for the audience to feel empathy towards Martha despite knowing very little about her.

The film is fast paced and fun, with an almost surreal and dream-like feel to it. I do wish it was a bit longer to fully flesh out the story and draw the audience in, as I was expecting more from it.