Medusa Deluxe review – slick but nonsensical “one-take” whodunnit

“Trainee hairdressers don’t survive exploding cars.” So says Cleve (an outstanding, maximalist Clare Perkins) in a vitriolic verbal salvo that opens Medusa Deluxe, a slick, shallow, serpentine debut feature from Thomas Hardiman that’s high on bombast and short on plausibility. Cleve’s character is vexed, fidgety and distracted, condensing in miniature the film’s aspartame aesthetic, tone and ethos. This is moviemaking in the form of elevator pitch: a murder mystery set during a regional hairdressing competition, suddenly capsized by a gruesome scalping, igniting a carnival of restless, bickering grotesques. These wretched souls point fingers and elude interrogation, wilfully slinging blame into a cyclone-whip of opprobrium.

So far, so rote. But this movie is not a polite retread of the static, classic whodunnit; rather it is a roving visual slalom, an ostensibly “one-take” showcase for prominent cinematographer Robbie Ryan. The ensemble cast is without household names, so Ryan’s bravura camerawork is the arguable star performer, tagging his lens onto the rival stylists (Perkins, Kayla Meikle, Harriet Webb) and their outlandishly coiffured models (Lilit Lesser, Debris Stevenson, Anita-Joy Uwajeh, Kae Alexander) as they traverse the halls and stairwells, in a municipal theatre where life and death – fontange or weave – take centre stage. Fouad Gaber’s intelligent editing fuses the extending tracking shots, with electronic artist Koreless providing interfering drones to imitate the mounting dread and distrust among the intensified cohort.

One of the favourites to win the contest, Mosca (John Alan Roberts), has had his manicured bonce lopped off, which initiates a series of threats, frets and laments between the contenders, presided over by the panicked, silver-streaked boss, Rene (Darrell D'Silva), who himself was intimate with the deceased. Also in the mix are the frenzied Angel (Luke Pasqualino), Mosca’s brazenly camp ex-lover, and the zombified Gac (Heider Ali), the building’s security guard, a unique entrant into proceedings by the simple fact he is bald (he’s one to keep an eye on). Hardiman’s screenplay renders this motley lot as a flock of avatars – don’t anticipate complicated character psychology – around which the camera dances, pans and dives. Like the models in their eccentric hairpieces (make-up by Eugene Souleiman), each suspect is an ornament of a higher creative power, mere vectors for Ryan’s artistic enterprise.

So, any good? The technical work is impressive, the acting variable, and the plot nonsensical. Popular with audiences on Locarno’s Piazza Grande, where it has premiered, the film likes to insist on how fun it is: this tendency culminates in an encore dance number that’s valedictory and blatantly unearned. The snippy, quickfire dialogue amuses in parts but is generally overengineered, thwarting the viewer’s amateur-detective efforts to decipher the killer or understand motivations of the accused and accusers. Hardiman’s direction shows plenty of promise and brio, though, even if it fails to cohere into a masterful cut.

Medusa Deluxe was screened as part of the Locarno Film Festival 2022. It is released in UK cinemas on 9 June.