Medusa Deluxe
Thomas Hardiman's debut feature Medusa Deluxe is an inventive one-shot murder mystery set in the cutthroat world of competitive hairdressing
Over the last decade, films such as Birdman, 1917 and Boiling Point have utilised a faux one-shot conceit for similar ends: to create heightened stakes in a heightened reality. Sometimes the effect is used to strive for verisimilitude, other times it exposes artifice. Medusa Deluxe feels like a throwback to Birdman’s flamboyant, anti-naturalistic one-shot technique as it follows a hair styling competition. Counterintuitively, the tension ratchets when the competition is cancelled: the frontrunner is found murdered and scalped, and the gruesome crime leaves no one safe and everyone still (not-so-secretly) vying for the vacated top spot.
Among an ensemble cast – who match each other’s pace and tone with flair – standout performances come from Claire Perkins and Harriet Webb as tough-talking competitors and Darrell D’Silva as the event’s harried organiser (and former partner of the deceased, who must break the news to his new partner and infant son). The contrast of a largely sedate baby with the increasing panic and irrationality of the adults who swap turns carrying him around adds a further delightful layer of absurdity to the proceedings.
Backed by a soundscape of drums and uncanny, almost animalistic noises, the script favours quips and quick wit over character development. If the film's coincidences and larger-than-life personalities preclude emotional connection to the mystery (the conclusion of which feels perfunctory), it moves with panache and vivacity. Unlike the intricate cages and pins securing the models’ elaborate hairstyles, Medusa Deluxe is style over substance – but when the style is this colourful, quotable, and melodramatic, style is enough.
Released 9 Jun by MUBI; certificate 15
The Skinny readers can see Medusa Deluxe early at The CineSkinny Film Club; free preview screenings at Summerhall, Edinburgh, 6 Jun and CCA, Glasgow, 7 Jun