Towelhead

Towelhead, written and directed by American Beauty scribe Alan Ball, is one of the most uncomfortable to watch movies, ever. The movie begins achingly squirm-inducing and manages to top itself scene after scene. Based on the novel by Alicia Erican, Towelhead centers around Jasira (Summer Bishil), a 13-year-old Lebanese American girl. After a disturbing incident gets her kicked out of her mother's (Maria Bello) place, Jasira moves in with her father Rifait (Peter Macdissi), residing in suburban Texas. So you think it's going to be another dissection of the messed-up suburban American values, like American Beauty, but Towelhead goes in far more disturbing terrain, exploring the racial and sexual intensity of this shy, conflicted teenage girl. This is far and away the heaviest film I've seen so far this year, and often times the most powerful as well, one that's bound to have a wide array of opinions. I personally respect the film and have a generally positive opinion of it, but still almost walked out a couple times. It's the kind of the film that demands an open mind, and will likely lead to discussion.

Upon arrival in Texas, Jasira already strikes the derision of her difficult to please father, the ridicule of her classmates not accustom to her skin tone, and the fancy of neighbor Travis Vuoso (oily played by Aaron Eckhart, in a role that could really only be played by him.) What's amazing is that in a film that seems so ripe for melodrama and tonal shifts, from awkward humor to piercing tragedy, the film plays it pretty straight, making the drama even more powerful. Much of the credit should go to Bishil, who in an extremely demanding role, keeps her performance composed and subtle. She's expressive, but economical in it, slowly revealing a layer to her character, without any of the histrionics that a film like this could easily fall from.

I going to go into a huge description of Towelhead because much of the power, icky power of the film probably is far more affecting with the a clear head, but it's a very heady movie. Sometimes intolerably so. There's the sexual factor in the film that's not-quite-explicit, but trying to watch, the racial tensions, in this film, no one is innocent and the prejudices come out of everyone. It's fortunate that Ball's scathing prose is handed to very gifted actors. Eckhart, Macdissi and Bello play fairly repellent people, but shade their characters subtly that while not enough to quite redeem them, at the very least humanize them. Toni Collette's character on the other hand is really the moral center of a film lacking one, and while Collette role (as Jazira's kindly and forgiving neighbor) is well played, it seems almost a like a flaw to the story that she comes across so saintly.

So, in the end there's a sort of respect I have for Towelhead, along with the need to take a very long shower to cleanse. And while I handily agree that many people will hate this movie, it's a film that's difficult to champion and fully praise, which will no doubt do little to upswing the current lack of popular independent films in the marketplace. Towelhead is being distributed by the now-defunct specialty arm of Warner Bros., and probably won't be the farewell ending they desired. But for those audiences looking for a film that challenges and provokes you in a way no other currently out can, here's the alternative. B+