Bad Hair
Cinema Tropical | Release Date: November 19, 2014 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews
Positive:
14
Mixed:
1
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
The New York TimesStephen HoldenNov 18, 2014
Bad Hair is an uncomfortably accurate depiction of a poignant mother-son power struggle in a fatherless family in which each knows how to get under the other’s skin. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughDec 4, 2014
Like the children’s films of Iranian directors Abbas Kiarostami and Jafar Panahi, Bad Hair explores such social pathology, in part, in the guise of a kids’ movie. But it also takes on the intensity of more pointed films such as “Bicycle Thieves” (1948) and even Hector Babenco’s sensationalistic “Pixote” (1981). Read full review
80
Time Out LondonTomris LafflyJan 27, 2015
There’s horror here, but it never feels like a simple catalogue of degradation. This is down in large part to the performances, which are naturalistic without ever being amateurish, and the subtle, careful script, which refuses to slide either into pathos or tragedy. Read full review
80
EmpireDavid ParkinsonJan 26, 2015
An insightful examination of racism, homophobia and identity in Latin America. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKatie WalshJan 22, 2015
The film is anchored by two riveting performances from Castillo and Lange. Read full review
80
VarietyJay WeissbergNov 17, 2014
While Rondon’s focus is the struggle of wills between a boy awakening to homosexual feelings and his embittered mother, the helmer invests their collision with a powerful specificity. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comSheila O'MalleyNov 20, 2014
Populated with totally naturalistic performances, and a stunningly observed relationship between mother and son (their scenes together are phenomenal), Bad Hair works by keeping its focus on the small details of everyday life and its rhythms. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineCarson LundNov 17, 2014
The narrative works through the many contradictions brewing inside its main character in the wake of his personal actualization without ever feeling like a dramatic checklist. Read full review
70
Village VoiceStephanie ZacharekNov 18, 2014
There’s plenty of prickly tenderness, for both mother and son, at the heart of Bad Hair. All children yearn for things beyond their reach, and if they’re honest about it, adults do too. It’s a feeling you never outgrow. Read full review
70
The DissolveScott TobiasNov 18, 2014
Rondón treats her characters with toughness and empathy, without devising easy outs or slipping into sentimentality. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyNov 17, 2014
A spare neorealist drama that holds attention and emotional involvement with its deft balance of toughness and sensitivity. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloNov 18, 2014
Bad Hair can best be described as expertly depressing—a subcategory of art cinema that seems worth the punishment only when the gloom is counterbalanced by at least a few transcendent moments. No such moments ever surface here, however, apart from a brief fantasy during the closing credits. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreOct 26, 2020
The “hair” with a murderous mind of its own is more funny than scary. Read full review
63
New York PostFarran Smith NehmeNov 19, 2014
Played with enormous charm by Samuel Lange Zambrano, Junior is a handsome kid. Read full review
42
The PlaylistNikola GrozdanovicNov 27, 2014
With her underdeveloped, dismissive, screenplay and myopic direction, Rondòn is as delicate with her theme as Michael Bay is with his American flag shots or Tim Burton with his kitschy quirkiness. That hers is a serious context makes it that much more disappointing. Read full review
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