Medusa Deluxe

An ingenious comedy that imitates one-take productions, it is rather built on the basis of well-structured, assembled and recorded sequences that, in the style of Alfred Hitchcock's «Rope», resolve the transitions by means of dissolves and cuts between black shots and other resources. Unlike Hitchcockian drama, however, the camera is not static, but a mobile 'stylo' that enters dressing rooms, bathrooms, elevators, and a stage, and moves through stairs, corridors and gates.

As in «Rope», the plot revolves around the murder of a person (a hairdresser), whose scalp was torn off after being killed, in the middle of a celebration. Instead of a group of guests in an apartment, with the corpse cleverly hidden, here it is a center for events and shows in London, where a hairdressing contest is happening. So the form is the content and viceversa, they are two faces of the same complex portrait and complementary reflections on the modern lives of those who are usually out of frame in mainstream cinema.

The central cast looks like a postcard from Benetton with vibrant, vivacious and energetic actors of various ethnicities, made up of the fearsome hairdressers Cleve (Clare Perkins), Kendra (Harriet Webb) and Divine (Kayla Meikle) who compete for the grand prize, the promoter René (Darrell D'Silva), the Colombian hairdresser Angel (Luke Pasqualino), the models Angie (Lilit Lesser), Inez (Kae Alexander), Timba (Anita-Joy Uwajeh), and Etsy (Debris Stevenson), the security guards Gac (Hieder Ali) and Patricio (Nicholas Karimi), and the baby Pablo (twins Logan and James Porter). They all wait for the Police to arrive to question them about the murder of the fearsome Mosca (John Alan Roberts), but since the police arrive after the storm as the rainbow, we follow plenty scenes and dialogues of confrontation, persecution, violence, confessions, music and dancing.

Thomas Hardiman wrote and directed his first feature film and the result was this great film that makes us spend 101 minutes of fun, synergy and extravagance, without missing touching moments, guided by the admirable photography of Robbie Ryan and his operator Jake Whitehouse.

Medusa Deluxe directed by Thomas Hardiman, is a captivating film that seamlessly delivers a gripping cinematic experience.

The cinematography is mesmerizing, with each frame meticulously composed to evoke a sense of both awe and unease. Camera work is really impressive - you can really appreciate the tech side to the film

The score perfectly complements the visuals, further immersing the audience into the film's world.

Casting is put together really well throughout with talent that engages you throughout the film with they're interesting personas.

Would really recommend to check this out. The film has been released nationally in the UK.

No pun intended - especially because it is a guy who has been done. The movie does start with the announcement of a police investigation. A police investigation we won't see much of by the way. We will stay and stick with the hairdressers and everyone.

This is a whodunnit, but it also is a look behind the scenes. It is a sort of love letter to hairdressers. That being said, do not expect this to be pulling any ... punches. The very first characters we see talk ... let's call it freely. You may feel it is rough and there are some anger issues for sure ... but it is also fun to watch.

What is fun to watch to a degree is the one shot thing. I did not detect any easy swipe or any other camera movement that would make it easy to cut and edit. Good acting ... good little movie.

Murder at the hairdressing competition. It's like the title Agatha Cristie forgot to write. We don't get a Poirot however, just a bunch of unlikeable characters chattering away for 90 minutes. We don't get to meet the victim, he's already cold when the movie opens, nor do we geet to meet the detectives working the case. We"re stuck with the models and collegues of the victim. It's a directorial choice offcourse. Just as the fact that the whole movie is filmed (or appears to be filmed) in one take. Which means a director going on an egotrip and an audience that has to suffer through endless shots of people walking through corridors. As you can tell I wasn't particularly taken with Medusa Deluxe. When we finally get to know whodunnit I was long past caring.

The one-take movie is a fun concept. But the fact still remains that if the script isn't good, the concept isn't going to cover up that fact. This was actually the first one-take film I've seen that I haven't enjoyed. All the other ones have had a great script to back up the concept. On this occasion though I wonder if they were using it to mask the weakness of what they had to work with, rather than doing it for purely artistic reasons.

The first thing a film has to do is make you care, and this one never did. I never found a character I could relate to or even enjoy their presence on screen. And I was never given a reason to care about the murder-mystery. We never meet the person who is murdered or even see them murdered. We are just told and then expected to spend 90 minutes desperately wondering whodunnit. That's not possible to do.

A one-take whodunnit should have been an absolute dream film for me to enjoy, but if the execution isn't there then it doesn't matter. This one was sadly a big misfire for me. 3/10.