Towelhead (2008)

“Towelhead” is a Coming-of-Age Drama that is also yet another entry into the “Moral Corruption in Suburbia” sub-genre, and it fits in well alongside other films of that ilk such as “Happiness” and “American Beauty.” Fitting, since it was directed by Alan Ball, writer of “American Beauty” and the television show “Six Feet Under;” he also adapted it from a book-by-the-same-name authored by Alicia Erian.

Young actress Summer Bishil plays Jasira, a 13 year old Arab American, growing up in the early 90's during the first Iraq war. She is sent to live with her strict Lebanese father (Peter Macdissi) in a middle-class cul-de-sac after a fallout with her mother involving her live-in boyfriend. There are two houses next door to her father's; one belongs to a pair of free-thinking hippies and soon-to-be-parents (Toni Collette & Matt Letscher) and the other belongs to army reservist and pedophile, Travis (Aaron Eckhart), and his trophy wife and bigoted son.

To put it simply, life sucks for Jasira. On a seemingly daily basis, she suffers through racism, sexual harassment, verbal abuse, mental abuse, and physical abuse, and it's coming at her from all sides. From her parents to her neighbors to her classmates, hell, even her body is out to get her, and all she wants to do is feel loved.

When Jasira babysits her racist next door neighbor's son (who is seemingly even a bigger racist), she discovers him rifling through his father's porno mag collection. At first she's shocked, but strangely, she finds herself becoming infatuated with the images in the magazines. When Travis, the father, comes home from work early one day and catches the two kids looking at the magazines, he scorns Jasira, but not before questioning her about her motives for looking at the magazines.

It isn't very long before Jasira's life is forever complicated by the sexual advances of Travis. The film does an interesting job of presenting both Jasira and Travis as confused and willing participants in something that they both know is wrong, rather than the predatory situation that it actually is.

That's more or less what the movie's about, but there are also a lot of sprawling subplots that involve Jasira's dad and his new girlfriend, Jasira's mom, Jasira's black boyfriend, and the hippy neighbor's watchful suspicious eyes. Considering the subject matter of the film and title (the studio considered changing the title several times), it's no surprise that there has been a lot of controversy surrounding it.

Personally, I wasn't really effected by the film's portrayal of sexuality, but I can easily see why someone would be, it's shocking, awkward, and disturbing. It's hard for me to explain, but I never really felt like the film was telling me a story at all, but instead just showing me a series of traumatic and embarrassing events in a young girl's life. As a result, I felt sorry for Jasira, but I wasn't really engaged by her story; I was merely watching it unfold. To put another way, I felt like all of the scenes added up to picture that I could look at, but not a story and could I experience.

That being said, I would almost recommend seeing just for the great performances, particularly by Summer Bishil, Aaron Eckhart, and Peter Macdissi. The only reason I won't recommend it because of the last impression the film left on me. As my girlfriend often notes, they just don't know how to end movies anymore, and sure enough, this one was no exception. So I'll just say that the happy and sappy Hallmark ending to this parade of misery and sadness is enough for me to say forget this and rent "Palindromes" instead.