In Tuscon, Arizona, Winston Prickle (Colin Ford: adult, Ian Cuson: child) has always had his imaginary friend Cactus Man, and anthropomorphized cactus, by his side. Having taken a job looking after cacti, Winston has an encounter with a new co-worker named Clem (Georgie Flores). As Winston clearly likes Clem, he must decide if it's time to leave Cactus Man behind.
Cactus Boy is the second short film from director Chris Brake following on from his 2017 short Scraps. The concept behind Cactus Man is one that Brake had flirted with since he was a teenager according to the short's official page and after several revisions was focused upon looking at "putting childish things away". The short is well made and emotionally resonant and does the difficult task of making an anthropomorphized cactus lovable.
Brake does a solid job of setting up the point of view from Winston as we see him both in adulthood and childhood with the shifting viewpoint from Winston's imagination versus reality well utilized. Both Colin Ford and Ian Cuson do solid work playing older and younger versions of Winston and you do get to know his character well and you'd be able to do so even if the sound were turned off. Shot on location in Tuscon, Arizona, Brake lovingly photographs both the cacti and Cactus Man himself and despite Cactus Man being mute you get a lot of personality from the suit performance, and we do grow to like Cactus Boy.
Cactus Boy is a solid short and is well worth your time if you're attracted to quirky or odd concepts or premises. The short is well acted and directed, and there's an offbeat fantastical charm to the movie that really spoke to me.
