Booba

BOOBA ⛪️ (2026)

BOOBA is a twisted folkloric fairytale conjured from the mind of writer Hunter D’Ancona and wickedly brought to life by director Gaoyang Ganjin.

This haunting fever dream follows Maestro, an aging man unraveling under the weight of betrayal after his beloved man-dog, BOOBA, dares to run away rather than remain trapped in their suffocating, one-sided companionship.

From there, the film tears into the very idea of “man’s best friend.” Boundaries collapse, cruelty escalates, and the fractured dynamic between master and companion becomes impossible to ignore. What unfolds is a devastating examination of loyalty, possession, and the terrifying cost of confusing control with love.

On the surface, the story plays like a gothic nightmare about a man using force, pain, and manipulation to bend another human being into obedient submission. But beneath the film’s brutality is something even more tragic: a lonely man slowly realizing that devotion cannot be beaten into existence.

That “my way or the highway” philosophy is easy to justify when domesticating an animal. Watching it inflicted upon a man tortured into compliance, however, becomes deeply disturbing. The film weaponizes that discomfort brilliantly, forcing us to sit with the ugliness of conditional love and authoritarian control.

And yet, despite its cruelty, BOOBA radiates a devilish charm. Its twenty-minute runtime feels impossibly rich—grand, textured, and operatic in a way many stories in the same short film medium, fail to achieve.

The brooding, almost god-fearing atmosphere is amplified by a thunderous operatic score, while the striking set design wraps the film in a suffocating gothic elegance. Every frame feels meticulously composed, with the camera lingering on Maestro like a ghost haunting his own self-made prison.

Those lingering shots become the emotional backbone of the film: a man staring directly into the loneliness he spent his entire life trying to dominate out of existence. There’s a quiet horror in watching someone realize, far too late, that their desperate need for control may have turned them into the villain all along.

There are many people who struggle to accept others for who they are rather than who they want them to be, and the moment someone no longer serves a purpose, they are discarded in favor of something new. In that sense, the ending feels like a form of liberation.

BOOBA doesn’t just confront power dynamics in relationships, it hauntingly transforms disillusionment into a worthwhile gothic cinematic fever dream. 

Enjoy! 🍿 🎥

Runtime: 15mins

Where: Now Streaming on YouTube (youtu.be/YoG49s97Erc)

The Richmond Reviewer Booba Review - May 9th, 2026.