Short Film Review: Janine Pipe’s Brief & Brutal CHARLIE FOXTROT

Writer-director Janine Pipe delivers a short and punchy cinematic amuse-bouche with Charlie Foxtrot – a proof of concept short film for female-led-UK-set cop feature Indigo. Pipe’s pic follows two rural armed police officers attending a routine countryside check who stumble across more than they bargained for – and that’s when things take a brutal and violent turn.

Clocking-in at less than six minutes, Pipe doesn’t mess about getting to the action, unleashing some brutal hand-to-hand combat as Kate Speak’s PC Kate Smart rises to the challenge to take down a vicious killer on her own. Punchy, well staged-action sequences hold the attention in this brisk short – showing that Pipe has the chops for something larger in scope.

There’s a visceral hand-held style to the photography which adds to Charlie Foxtrot’s realism. The camera is close in on the action with the characters – you can almost feel every blow. This gives it a gritty, Paul Greengrass-documentary quality. Admittedly, the plot is slight, but this is just a slice of a larger effort that shows an assured style and a very strong grasp of action chops. 

Genre fans will be interested to note that Charlie Foxtrot is Executive Produced by Neil Marshall (Dog Soldiers) and Liam O’Donnell (Skyline), showing that Pipe’s talents have a certain amount of industry backing. It’s easy to see why. Charlie Foxtrot is a small but strong calling card – and if that’s the first card, then I can’t wait to see the full deck. 

Charlie Foxtrot is currently doing the rounds on the festival circuit – so keep an eye out for Janine Pipe’s short at a film festival near you.