Tom Hardiman gives us and inventive and labyrinthine debut feature where hair is all that matters.

Shot in a number of extended unbroken takes, the camera feels like in animal in constant motion. We are somewhere that feels subterranean, a neon-lit basement of a performance centre where obsessively meticulous hairdressers prepare for a competitive hairdressing extravaganza.

Event organiser, Mosca (never really seen John Alan Roberts who has an impressive head of hair) has been found offscreen, dead and, more shockingly, scalped. The news of his death travels from hairdresser to model and eventually to Mosca’s partner, Angel (Luke Pasqualino).

There’s the angry Cleve (Claire Perkins), competitive Kendra, (Harriet Wells), stylish René (Darrell D’Silva), and shady Patricio (Nicholas Karimi). All are trying to work out who killed Mosca, with many aspersions being cast and competitive jealousies emerging.

All the while the camera swoops and glides, follows people from room to room, in lifts, upstairs, and even soars via crane up the outside of the building. It’s mostly seamless and keeps the audience perennially off kilter.

It’s cleverly done, although it feels like we are watching theatre with dialogue heavy, real-time motion precluding the drama,and tension that can be built with editing and juxtaposition. Sometimes the artfulness signals itself but usually in an ‘isn’t that clever’ way, nowhere more delightfully than when baby Pablo looks straight down the lens.

We eventually circle back narratively and find out what happened. It’s a nice ending, but nowhere near as satisfying as the mid-credit surprise. This ramped up the love and silly delight underpinning the film.

Director: Tom Hardiman
Origin: UK (2022)
Language: English
Genre: Comedy , Crime , Drama , Experimental

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