Towelhead

source: Towelhead

I am philosophically opposed to the molestation of teen-age girls and so find it very troublesome that such things are portrayed in this movie. I cannot believe that a co-worker recommended this movie! I could not finish watching it. This movie was made in 2007, I believe and is not up to the standards of what I have come to expect from a movie. I do not expect to see teenagers engaging in sex or near sex and the like. This is almost as bad as "Pretty Baby" of the late 70s. This movie is just really not my cup of tea. I am not accustomed to a plot line with teenagers that revolves entirely around sex. Who would have thought that a movie about a teenage girl would be like this? I also think this movie is very disrespectful to Arabs who cherish their women and try to protect them sexually. I don't appreciate this movie and the message that it sends at all. It is definitely not worth your time.

The commercials for this film will make you think it's a coming of age/fish-out-water type of comedy. It's not. It's a dark and fairly disturbing portrayal of a young girl of mixed heritage who both receives and gives very mixed sexual messages. She is sent away from her mother's home in Syracuse to live with her father in Texas because, according to her mother (in a creepy foreshadowing), she "needs to learn how to behave around men." There are definitely moments of humor in this film - I went to a screening where Alan Ball did a Q&A afterward, and he spoke of how his sense of humor saves him from a sense of despair, and I think that this illustrates the role of humor in the film. There are also disturbing, graphic scenes of sexual abuse in this film that make me never want to read the book it's based on (according to Ball, the scenes are more graphic in the book). I was mentioning this film to a co-worker who was very surprised - she said her daughter (in high school) wanted to see "Towelhead" because she thought, based on the commercials, it would be something like the movie Juno - SO not. All that being said, the acting is superb across the board.

So that is why it needs to be spread by us that loved it. I haven't been able get out the images out of my head. It such a complex motion picture, and only Alan Ball could tackle this controversial material. It's so well acted. It's a great cast, but it is Bishil that sweeps us all away. A highly important movie, sad that it's gonna be forgotten. But in a few years time, people will say just like Gob in "Arrested Development"; "I mad a huge misstake" In overall I recommend this movie to everyone. It speaks on so many important subjects that often gets ignored by the mass. Movies are meant to provoke you, make you feel inferior and make you think. "Towelhead" does that and a little bit more.

Late in "Towelhead", Jasira(Summer Bishil) is forced to stay with the next-door neighbors to escape her father, who discovers her daughter's porno magazine. While driving the girl home from school, he repeatedly hits Jasira on the upper thigh, leaving a bruise serious enough to call in social services. With lodging provided by this married couple, Jasira is safe, away from dad(Peter MacDissi), and away from the other neighbor, the pedophile(Aaron Eckhart). As Rifat's fist comes down on Jasira's leg, the viewer should be cognizant about the close proximity between the father's blows and the girl's *. The admonitory punches of a Lebanese man with his conservative ideas about women, in his own country, would land on its intended target. The Hines will provide a safe haven for Jasira, right? Not all men want to f*** underaged girls. Gil Hines(Matt Letscher) is the hero; after all, he's the one who kept an eye on Jasira after seeing the thirteen-year-old girl get out of Travis' car. His wife Melina(Toni Collette) is showing; as perchance has it, they're expecting a girl. But even Gil is culpable to the influence of our oversexualized culture. In regard to seeing Jasira together with her much-older neighbor, maybe it was jealousy, and not an affront to his moral turpitude, that registered on Gil's squinted eyes and corresponding forehead lines. When the expectant father happens to glance down at Jasira's hitched skirt as she gets up from the dinner table, he notices the bruise, but is that all he notices? Because Jasira is only thirteen, Melina looks only at her chronological age, when she makes the decision that her boyfriend Thomas(Eugene Jones) can stay with the girl, unchaperoned, and left to their own devices. While she naps, Thomas and Jasira have sex. Jasira likes sex. This is what distinguishes the Lebanese girl from someone like Amelia(Roxana Zal), someone like the ABC telefilm "Something about Amelia". Jasira's emotional maturity is way beyond her years. When she admits to her relationship with Travis, "Towelhead" forces the viewer to question Jasira's motivations: Was she traumatized by her neighbor's sexual advances, or does she merely out Travis as a tactic to distract her father from addressing Thomas' used condom in his hand? Following Travis' arrest, Melina comforts Jasira. In her bedroom, she brushes the girl's hair, as they talk about, among other things, the men's magazine Travis gave her. To the older woman, a magazine like Palace(modeled after Playboy) makes her feel like "crap"; but to Jasira, it makes her feel "good". While Melina comforts Jasira in hushed tones and strokes her hair reassuringly, "Towelhead" goes against the automatic presumption that her sexual relationship with the war veteran traumatized her. Is Jasira a victim of sexual abuse, or is she a lolita? Was the sex between her and Travis consensual? Even Thomas underestimates Jasira, who like Melina, handles his girlfriend like a delicate flower. When he suggests that their relationship should go in a more chaste direction, Jasira disagrees; she decides that their relationship should continue in its adult direction. She's one of Larry Clarke's "Kids". "Towelhead" is an uncomfortable film. But it's important in showing how the mainstreaming of * rewrites the laws of statutory rape. Theoretically, Jasira isn't ready to have sex, but "Towelhead" seems to say otherwise.

Coming from the guy who wrote American Beauty, one of the best films ever made, you'd think that this would be at least a semi-decent film, but it wasn't even that. It just was so boring, and uninteresting. To give it some credit, the lead actress did perfectly capture the vulnerability of the character she portrays, but the story just isn't all that appealing. Coming of age tales are a dime a dozen these days, and Towelhead isn't able to stand out in the hugely crowded genre. Alan Ball does an okay job writing the script, but his direction is way off. Most of the actors are so wooden, especially the actor playing the father, it seems as if he just got out of acting school, because his performance feels so stale and lifeless. Considering the cast includes Maria Bello, Toni Collete and Aaron Eckhart, indie veterans, this movie should have been infinitely better than it was.

I saw this film at its premier at Sundance 09. Since American Beauty is a movie that had something to say, I had hopes for Towelhead. Unfortunately, it was a disappointment. In fact, of countless movies I've seen in almost a dozen Sundance festivals, Towelhead is the only Sundance movie I've ever wanted to walk out early from. The worst problem with Towelhead is that it so obviously originates with a collection of "provocative" concepts concerning cultural stereotypes, rather than with an organic human drama. The screenplay derives from the novel of the same name by Alicia Erian. The famous Edith Wharton quote comes to mind: I have never known a novel that was good enough to be good in spite of its being adapted to the author's political views. That observation is especially devastating for Towelhead because its political views are so stale and simplistic. If there ever was a time when Towelhead's white male villains, condescending portrayals of blacks, ironic treatments of foreign cultures, etc., were fresh, it's long past. For a more detailed review, please look up any of the many professional reviews available online. Almost all rate this movie poorly and expose the shallow and manipulative tissue it is based on. On the other hand, the amateur reviewers seem more easily bamboozled. As you read through the reviews in this and similar sites, you'll frequently come across superlatives: "stunning," "breathtaking," "profound," "shocking," ... It embarrasses me to read them, but it does not surprise me. Indeed, I've encountered many people who seem to regard any book or movie dealing with racial, cultural, gender, or sexual issues as deeply moving, thought provoking, full of profound insight. If you are such a person, by all means, rent Towelhead and be moved by it. On the other hand, if you set your standards higher, you can safely pass on this one.

This is a very very disturbing movie. The story is based on a girl who is 13 and being molested on the screen multiple times as well as depicted as a * trying to attain * in public places. Every girl want to explore her sexuality, but the way its been shown is horrible. Her soiled underwear is displayed during her puberty, later on a used tampon is shown. What does this serve to the society? Young people who watch these kind of movies will lose their values. This movie is a thumbs up to child molesters, provides a means of pleasure to them. It shouldn't have been approved for release to general public. The movie ratings are surprising and they shows how sick the common man has become. Also shows the pedophiles filthy minds of the writer and director wearing masks of art and picturising rape of a minor girl on the screen. Its a disgusting horrible and despicable act on the part of this movie makers and artists playing the roles including Aaron Eckhart. Only roles played by Toni Collette and Matt Letscher are commendable and show true protective nature towards kids.

The best thing I can say about Towelhead is that it doesn't have parts that sit completely like lumps. A lot of individual scenes and moments work very well; Summer Bishil as the 13 year old protagonist Jasira is a formidable young talent and is quite good playing against Aaron Eckhart and Toni Collette (especially-so for the former where there are some seat-squirming scenes), as does the theme of rape/molestation. And somehow Alan Ball can write certain characters, however limited in scope like Jasira's father (Peter Macdissi, doing the most with a one-1/2-dimensional character), with the same kind of conviction he did in American Beauty and Six Feet Under. And, yes, as horrible as it sounds I laughed at the sitcom-type bit with a certain dead kitty. But as it is coming from Alan Ball, who has built a large chunk of his reputation on carving crazy but dramatically satisfying dysfunctional familial portraits, it turns out to not be as successful as he wishes it. The problem is the time frame: in two hours what happens in Jasira's life within the scope of the year comes off as not only cramped but as calculated (she has her first shave, has her first period, has her first sex, has her first bigotry, etc etc). As far as just coming-of-age stories go it also faces tough competition from another film just from a few months ago about a girl of young middle-eastern-descent coping with sex and life in general in Persepolis. That is just one thing as comparison; as far as the story and characters in and of themselves, no matter how much Ball tries for moments of complexity they don't fly due to the rather simplistic nature of how characters are in relation to one another and on their own, like with one neighbor family being the nasty redneck bunch with the sneaky father in Eckhart or the kind-hearted family-to-be with Collette. If it were an actual TV series, like Six Feet Under, there might be time to let the characters breathe and their situations to grow more interesting. Perhaps it's also a fault of the book it's based on (or perhaps not, having not read it), but whatever the case one comes across the notion- which grows more as the film goes on and even more-so after its ended and discussed- how it's possibly more provocative than American Beauty but not for the better of it. If anything, this might be one of those cases where almost to spite the good actors and sometimes cool camera-work, to go too provocatively before there's barely a moment where something isn't awkward or tense or clumsily erotic (never really offensive, unless you love your kitties). The parts are better than the whole in Towelhead, which is the best I could really say for it.

If we ever NEED a reality show it is one of Hollywood executives. How do they sign off on a $100 million project before that first Scotch in the morning? What is the debate before greenlighing a movie about a 13-year-old submitting to the sexual whims of the married Army Reservist next door? Surely a free people can make any movie they choose. And surely Hollywood is only interested in money when they make a movie like this that offends anyone that thinks sex between children and men is wrong, or thinks stereotypical looks of Arab men don't have a place in society. Not only does the girl's father beat her, tell her which feminine products to use, wait, I'm not sure what else he could do, maybe blow himself up at the bus stop to prove he's a bad guy. The married Army Reservist neighbor, who drives a pick-up, lives in Texas, and I'm sure voted for the evil John McCain, just explores his sexuality with the neighbor girl. You know, the type of thing that happens all the time. And you know the girl really isn't upset about it until her dad believes the bad black boy took her virginity. The sexual flirting between the neighbor and the girl up to that point, is a true love story, right out of "To Catch a Predator." But no one seems to see it as wrong. Oh the bad soldier does end up in jail, for a spell, but the feeling is the girl felt guilty for putting him there and her father was the true bad guy for turning him in. Maybe this is "straight out of the book." But does it have to be made? Do we really need more movies where sex between adults and children is explored? Do we really need more movies that paint soldiers are redneck inbreeding hicks? A million books are out there that don't celebrate these things, but Hollywood spends money (and I guess makes some too) on this. My guess the reason this is so highly rated here on IMDb is because those that have an aversion to seeing movies like this haven't seen it and the stars of "To Catch a Predator" and those that see it as "bold" to have men and children sleeping with each other on film have.