Nine-year-old Junior is living with his mother in the slums of Venezuela. He hates his curly hair and tries to get it straightened for his yearbook picture, like a fashionable pop singer. He craves his mother’s love, but when he can’t get it, he decides to do something. With a theme of sexual identity of the boy, the first thing that the film shows is South American slum. The early sequence where the boy and his friend fantasizing their own world creates odd atmosphere blending colorful scenery into the poverty. Also it creates tragic moments when the desperate mother has to give up her job because she can’t find a babysitter while her son is craving for the mother’s love. Bad Hair is from the other side of the globe but it shows something very familiar to us. Director and artist Mariana Rondon’s third feature was invited to the San Sebastian International Film Festival official selection this year. (RHEE Soue-won)