‘Medusa Deluxe’ Review

Stars: Kae Alexander, Clare Perkins, Darrell D’Silva, Kayla Meikle, Lilit Lesser, Anita-Joy Uwajeh, Harriet Webb, Luke Pasqualino, Heider Ali | Written and Directed by Thomas Hardiman

A group of rival hairdressers come together to compete in a regional artistic hair competition. Before the event can finish, one of the competitors is killed, leaving the rest to be confined to their dressing rooms until the culprit is revealed. While they wait, each reveals long-simmering resentments, pent-up grudges, and a treasure trove of personal secrets.

To some, hair is everything. It’s a key vehicle for how we present ourselves to the world, as well as being something we find attractive and compelling about other people. A trip to the hairdresser is a safe haven — it’s a place to make yourself feel better physically as well as emotionally. Thomas Hardiman’s Medusa Deluxe sets out to challenge everything we know about those who style us by subverting stereotypes and playing with genre form. The result might not always be perfect, but it’s certainly entertaining.

Medusa Deluxe isn’t exactly a story you’d expect from someone like Hardiman. A proud fan of niche art cinema, the film’s narrative almost feels too effortlessly diverse and well-rounded to sit on his creative shoulders. Defying initial perceptions, Hardiman has a firm hand on the storytelling tiller, providing his audience with relatable characters trapped within a one-of-a-kind situation. There’s exquisite detail to be found within each of them — the discomfort from the models when overhearing information that they shouldn’t, the maternal instincts of women without children, and the bubbling disdain that has been long-harboured towards old colleagues.

Where Hardiman is particularly adept at changing the game is through the idea of the murder mystery itself. There’s plenty of murder, but not too much outward mystery, with the narrative more focused on individual character traits rather than the overall act of deceit. It’s a refreshing spin on something that the Brits are all too familiar with, deviating from the traditional by-the-book revelations that fans of crime may have become accustomed to. There’s no huge reveal — because we secretly have known the game all along — and there doesn’t need to be. Instead, we go for the jugular that marinates in the immediate future.

On top of this, Hardiman experiments with visuals by choosing to film Medusa Deluxe completely in one take. Unlike previous outings such as Phillip Barantini’s Boiling Point, the film is working with a huge geographical compass, with events taking place across an entire warehouse. It’s an ambitious idea and one that sometimes spends too long getting to its point, but nonetheless fits with the attitude of putting the individual first. Given room to breathe, then tension flourishes — even when the drama occasionally drops off.

For those looking for something different from their whodunnits or gossip-fuelled dramas, Medusa Deluxe certainly fits the bill. Its cast amazingly has very little acting experience, yet the experience of watching it is larger than life — alongside a reminder to never let flammable items and hairspray mix.

*** 3/5

Medusa Deluxe is on limited release in the UK now. The film comes to MUBi on August 4th.