Towelhead is the first feature film directed by Alan Ball, writer of American Beauty and creator of HBO's hit series Six Feet Under and True Blood. Starring are Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Toni Collete, Peter Macdissi and Summer Bishil. The alternate title of the film is Nothing is Private because it caused controversy between some middle eastern anti-defamation groups.
It is the story of Jasira (Bishil), a 13 year old lebanese american girl, who lives with her mother (Bello) and her boyfriend in New York. After her mom's partner becomes interested in her sexually, she is send to live with her dad (Macdissi) in Texas. There, she will experiment sexually with one classmate and an adult neighbor (Eckhart) resulting in fights with her dad and being protected by a pregnant neighbor (Collete) and her husband.
First-time big screen direction by Ball is a tour-de-fource film of sexual experimentation, pedophilia, politics and racial discrimination. It is reminiscent of Solondz's Happiness and Clark's Ken Park in the way the themes are presented. Although not that visually graphic than the aforementioned but it suggests all that shocking and disturbing stuff that candy-coated mainstream cinema avoids.
Jasira struggles between her father strict ways and her sexual desires, her parents constant egoistical behavior towards her and each other, the pedophile neighbor who only wants to satisfy his sick appetite, her school boyfriend wanting to sleep with her and all that suburban environment who wants to control her life. Bishil and Eckhart's performances are outstanding and the rest of the cast contributed for the sake of the great storytelling. All in all, Ball proved with his feature debut that he can be a great director in television series as well as in films.
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