Movie #197........................."Towelhead"

Movie #197 "Towelhead" - what an uncomfortable movie to watch (the other time I felt that way was another Ball (director) film entitled "American Beauty" and also "Happiness" -- it concerns an older guy hitting on a 13 year old, so if that makes you squeamish in the least, you won't like this film. I was giving it a 1 or 2 for most of the film; then, the high point scene came on and it was very good, and the ending worked out well, too. So that's what bumped it up to a 3. But geez, getting there was just so darn tense, uncomfortable, looking away from the screen, etc. But I guess that's what it was supposed to do. The title of the film is a little deceiving --- it suggests the film is more about racism, cultural bias. It may possibly be one of the reasons the girl acts the way she does, but then it wouldn't be universal, and I think the people behind this film were pushing that more.............just sexual curiosity on the part of a 13 year old girl; but she does happen to be called towelhead by a neighbor boy, and that seems a good justification to me why she seems to want to please everyone so much (at least all the men in the film). The one huge gripe I have gainst this movie, is how bad all the adults seem to be --------- thanks god for Toni Collette and her husband --- glimmers of light in a very cruel world for this little girl. Everyone is a head case. How will she ever turn out? Tough, tough life, tough tough world, and tough tough movie to watch.





Average rating: 3.111
I gave it 3 stars
Towelhead
Nothing Is Private
(2007) R
Based on Alicia Erian's novel, this coming-of-age tale follows the topsy-turvy life of Jasira (Summer Bishil), a 13-year-old Arab American girl wrestling with the challenges of adolescence, bigotry and life with an overbearing father. Directed and adapted for the big screen by Alan Ball (American Beauty), this darkly comic film set during the first Gulf War earned Bishil a Best Female Lead nod at the Independent Spirit Awards.