The third film from the filmmaker and plastic artist Mariana Rondón stars Junior, a 9 year-old with "bad hair". He wants to have it straightened for his yearbook picture, like a fashionable pop singer. This puts him at odds with his mother Marta. The more Junior tries to look sharp and make his mother love him, the more she rejects him, until he is cornered, face to face with a painful decision.
Mariana Rondón premiered her first film in 2000, A la media noche y media (At Midnight and a Half, co-directed with Marité Ugás), which won 5 international awards and was presented at more than 40 festivals. In 2007, she directed Postales de Leningrado (Postcards from Leningrad), winner of 23 international awards, including FIPRESCI and Best Director in Kerala, the Abrazo in Biarritz and the Revelation Award at the Mostra de Cinema de Sao Paulo. Pelo malo is her third film. It took part in Films in Progress 23 (Toulouse 2013).