Mariana Rondón, Bad Hair, 1963 (still); image: courtesy TK
“In a Caracas tenement high-rise, Marta is raising two children alone, their father long gone and her security-job employment recently terminated. Broke and desperate, she focuses her frustrations on her 10-year-old elder son Junior’s curious new determination to straighten his frizzy interracial hair. He wants to look like the people he watches on T.V. — not actually be a beauty contestant or singer, but simply resemble one. It’s a harmless enough pursuit, one would think. But Marta worries it’s a sign of femininity that underscores her failings as a parent and provider. The resulting conflict between them shouldn’t turn serious — and yet somehow it keeps pressing all the wrong buttons until mother and son may not be able to repair the damage. Without ever spelling anything out, Mariana Rondón’s prize-winning feature addresses potent issues of economic pressure and homophobia within the family unit. She displays a fine understanding of the unspoken tensions that can create a divide — and the occasional words said in anger that can seal it.” — SFFILM
Country: Venezuela, Peru
Language: Spanish
Year: 2013
Running time: 93 min
Format: DCP
Director: Mariana Rondón
Screenwriter: Mariana Rondón
Producer: Marité Ugas
Cinematographer: Micaela Cajahuaringa
Editor: Yovanny Leal, Marité Ugas
Source: FiGa Films
Films and schedules may be subject to change.
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