Midlands Review of Hairball
midlandsmovies • August 11, 2020
Hairball
Directed by Jonathan Hawes
2020
One Door Films
Written and directed by Jonathan Hawes, Hairball is a new 5-minute short focusing on an unpleasant scenario which could haunt your nightmares.
Waking with a cough after what looks like a heavy night on alcohol, a smartly dressed man comes around on a sofa and realises he has made no in-roads on preparation for his work’s “big meeting”.
Heading to the kitchenette, his coughing intensifies as he makes himself a hot drink but it fails to alleviate his choking symptoms.
A jazzy score by David Rubenstein keep the tone mostly light but the true dreadfulness comes when he begins to pull knotted hair from his mouth whilst in his flat’s bathroom.
Staring into the mirror, we see the black matted locks emanate from his mouth seemingly without end. With no more finally left, the man returns to his sitting room to discover a strange bearded yogi. The music here switches to to transcendental Eastern music and the drug-addled yogi asks to stay but is quickly chucked out by our protagonist (Matt Hawes).
With the meditating yogi donning a large fake beard, the short definitely heads into more comedic territory and in many ways the whole film begins to feel more like a dark comedy skit from the League of Gentlemen or similar.
I have in fact had a dream of that exact hair in throat situation so was personally hoping for the short to delve into darker waters rather than the mystical and playful angle it delivers.
But unfortunately for me, from what was its central intriguing (and quite nasty) idea at the start, combined with the short’s abrupt conclusion the move from dread into humour didn’t ultimately work for me despite the positives at the beginning.
Watch Hairball at the link on the director’s Twitter page here: https://twitter.com/jonathanhawes94
Michael Sales
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