Human beings are social animals. Even with food and water, the lack of a personal connection can drive any person to insanity. For some, making connections comes naturally. For others, not so much – and this can have dangerous consequences.
These consequences are explored by Jill Sixx Gevargizian in The Stylist. The film follows the daily life of Claire (Najarra Townsend), a Kansas City-based cosmetologist who is unable to form friendships with other people. This lack of affection leads her down a dark path as a serial killer who collects her victims’ scalps. Unable to bond with those she interacts with, Claire literally uses the scalps she collects to try to get into the minds of her victims. After growing fond of a client, Olivia (Brea Grant), she attempts to repress her urges and forge a social life – but it’s only a matter of time before the beast inside Claire makes itself known once again.
At first glance, Gevargizian’s film appears to be a cheesy slasher flick, and the ingredients are certainly there. The slasher, in this case, Claire, is a remorseless killer with enough gall to scalp innocent human beings for trophies. However, The Stylist doesn’t go into the exploitative gore and sex we’d expect. Instead, the film focuses on the slasher as a tortured individual who does not fit in with humanity, no matter how hard she tries.
Najarra Townsend’s performance is the highpoint of The Stylist. Despite her character’s unspeakable crimes, we still fall in love with her and want her to succeed, especially in forming friendships. When she smiles, we smile, when she cries, we cry. She gives off the air of a truly vulnerable and lonely human being with a hidden dark side. Townsend is a gifted enough actress that audiences can easily pick up on her plight, and this is the driving force of the film.
Claire’s descent into madness begins upon meeting Olivia, who’s only a few weeks away from getting married. As Claire becomes fond of Olivia, she tries to create a niche for herself in Olivia’s little clique but is unable to. Olivia’s friends shun her, and Olivia herself even becomes defensive as Claire gets danger-close. Claire begins to revert to her old ways from here, offing innocent people one-by-one – and in terms of storytelling, this is where the film takes a hit.
The Stylist tries to convey how far one will go in maintaining friendships, which is fine. The first half nails it, but the second half loses its luster. Claire begins sneaking into homes to try on clothing, breaking into houses to collect a scalp or two, and even watching television while a bloodied corpse lies nearby. Coupled with repetitive clips of Claire waking up and checking her cell phone for friendly updates – again and again – this gradually wears on the viewer’s attention.
These bizarre episodes are meant to emphasize Claire’s loss of sanity, but Gevargizian ultimately loses track of what she was trying to do with the story. The Stylist succeeds in showing how loneliness can lead one down a dark path, but it crosses the line to emphasize Claire’s lunacy. She’s nuts, we get it. We don’t need all these concocted moments to get the message. For its one-hour-and-forty minute runtime, the creators could have easily scrapped 20 minutes of nonsensical material and made it better – but it is what it is.
As before, Najarra Townsend’s performance is the focal point for this film. For all its faults, Townsend keeps the audiences hooked and sympathetic to her character. The Stylist has a rather disappointing build-up and ending, but Townsend carries us through. The Stylist had potential and doesn’t meet expectations, but Townsend does not disappoint at all.
Review screener provided.
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