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Towelhead, 2007

Towelhead

English, French, Arabic, Spanish

USA

Rating:7.0
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Profile of Towelhead

Towelhead can be described as gloomy. The plot revolves around racism, gender, and family problems. The main genre is drama. In approach, Towelhead is serious and realistic. The storytelling is slow paced. It is set, at least in part, in the suburbs and in a small town. Towelhead is located in Texas. It takes place during the Gulf War. It is based on a book. Towelhead has received attention for being critically acclaimed. Note that it involves strong sexual content and profanity.

Summary of Towelhead

Alan Ball, who won an Oscar for his AMERICAN BEAUTY screenplay and an Emmy for the hit cable series SIX FEET UNDER, which he created, makes his feature-film directorial debut with the controversial TOWELHEAD. Set around the time of the first Gulf war, TOWELHEAD examines a young girl's sexual awakening in an extremely dysfunctional family--and community. Summer Bishil stars as Jasira, a 13-year-old girl being shuttled between her mother's (Maria Bello as Gail) home in Syracuse and her father's (Peter Macdissi as Rifat) in a suburban Houston cul-de-sac. Rifat, a Lebanese American, is overprotective of his daughter, who makes extra money by baby-sitting for neighbor Zack (Chase Ellison). But when Zack's father, Travis (Aaron Eckhart), a National Guardsmen waiting to be called to serve in Iraq, begins taking an unhealthy interest in Jasira, another neighbor, Melina (Toni Collette), becomes suspicious and befriends Jasira, who is suddenly trapped in a grown-up world she might not understand as well as she might think.

Bishil, who was 18 at the time the film was shot, is excellent as Jasira, playing the complex character with both charm and trepidation; her scenes with Macdissi (a SIX FEET UNDER veteran) and Eckhart are filled with different kinds of tension that never let up. Ball's script, based on the novel by Alicia Erian, takes on racism, bigotry, underage sex, patriotism, suburbia, adolescence, terrorism, first love, and, most of all, the meaning of family in an ever-changing world. The soundtrack consists of a slew of hits by such bands as Faith No More, Fine Young Cannibals, R.E.M., the Gregg Allman Band, INXS, Tom Tom Club, the Sundays, World Party, and Edie Brickell and New Bohemians.

Details

Language: English, French, Arabic, Spanish
Country: USA
Release date: 19 January 2008
Runtime: 124 min

Cast and Crew

Aaron Eckhart as Travis Vuoso in Towelhead
Aaron Eckhart

as Travis Vuoso

Toni Collette as Melina Hines in Towelhead
Toni Collette

as Melina Hines

Maria Bello as Gail Monahan in Towelhead
Maria Bello

as Gail Monahan

Summer Bishil as Jasira Maroun in Towelhead
Summer Bishil

as Jasira Maroun

Photos

Towelhead (2007)
Towelhead (2007)

Clips

Towelhead
Towelhead: Official Trailer
Towelhead
Towelhead: Mexican Restaurant
Towelhead
Towelhead: I wasn't in his car
Towelhead
Towelhead: Barry

Critics Reviews

TV Guide
The movie belongs to the fifth-billed Bishil, a truly gutsy young actress who captures the essence of young female desire in all its adolescent confusion.
Philadelphia Inquirer
The result is a movie about the many forms of social and sexual abuse that does not make the abusee a victim but victor.
Likely to see
Not for me

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