By Mark Young
From French visual artist and director Pol Kurucz comes the most unique short I’ll watch this year. From a traditional perspective, this is a collection of full colour nightmarish imagery where a lot of the narrative is played out using visual cues only, moving from one moment to the next. A brief voiceover introduces us to Charlie without providing any exposition on the why or where. The viewer is simply expected to observe as these events unfold, sometimes without any rhyme or reason. Charlie, played by Brooks Ginnan uses their unique look to further push the visual aspect further.
You can watch this numerous times and come away from it with different feelings each time; The way that this has been put together, the way that certain things are portrayed so that they are exaggerated to the maximum evokes unease in you. The way that Pol melds sound to these visions is superlative, every scene is perfectly matched and the sets themselves looks amazing, they literally pop from the screen and I think that watching the way that it is intended would add another layer to this experience.
Ultimately, it’s difficult to adequately describe this. The short runtime coupled with that nontraditional filmmaking approach makes it a film that has to be experienced, rather than just talked about. For me, the brief description that came as part of the review material does not do this justice at all.
Charlie Is Not a Boy is available as part of the Slamdance Film Festival 2026.
Bloody Flicks 