Courtesy of Candy Guard

Candy Guard's cruel observational humour takes us through a situation which must be familiar to most women - the emotional trauma of a bad haircut.

The protagonist is seen to start with the expectation that a new haircut will somehow change her life, then to show a pathetic lack of self-assertion when faced with an incompetent apprentice hairdresser, ending with despair at the unwelcome transformation. The protagonist is seen as colluding with in her own downfall due to her own spineless impotence.

Like many of Candy Guard's films, the humour and skill of the writing and voice-over direction would make the piece work as a radio play. But the simple visual style and stylised characters invites our identification with the 'everywoman' protagonist.

Ruth Lingford

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