Adrian Hui’s Soyboy is a sharp, unsettling, and oddly tender short film that captures the alienation of a generation drowning in convenience. But what makes this surreal meditation on self-image and disconnection truly linger is the performance by Jack Johnstone as Killian, a performance that’s as raw as it is magnetic.
Johnstone commands every frame. His Killian is a product of the algorithm: numb, curated, detached, yet there’s an aching vulnerability beneath his blank stare. In the film’s early moments, when he’s masturbating in a bathtub interrupted by a knock on the door, Johnstone somehow makes the absurd feel honest, even sad. As Killian drifts from one bizarre encounter to the next, from a disorienting house party to a confrontation with his “better” self and a surreal reunion with a man in a horse mask, Johnstone anchors the chaos with striking authenticity. His expressions tell a story of quiet desperation, the yearning to be seen, to be real again.
Hui, a director based in New York City and originally from Hong Kong, delivers the film with confidence and vision. The editing, by Ari Isenberg, is exceptional, so convincing at one point that the audience momentarily mistakes a cutaway for a real advertisement. This intentional blurring of consumerism and consciousness perfectly supports the film’s critique of modern life’s empty rituals.
There’s a dark humor that runs through Soyboy, but it’s Johnstone who gives it heart. His physicality, his awkward dance alone in the crowd, his sprint through the city in the final moments, feels like an exorcism of everything false he’s been sold. The supporting cast, including Loki Olin as the mysterious Astronaut and Justin Strong as Horsey, elevate the surreal tone, but Johnstone remains the emotional core.
Soyboy is both strange and sincere, a stylish, self-aware short that manages to cut through irony with real feeling. And at its center, Jack Johnstone delivers a breakout performance that turns existential confusion into something profoundly human.
Verdict: A visually stunning and emotionally charged short. Jack Johnstone shines in a career-making turn that makes Soyboy impossible to forget.
Jessie Hobson