Let's face it: Growing up is a pain in the butt. Unrealistic expectations are shot towards kids who are experience puberty and, unless there's some biological defects involved, it's mandatory for everyone. However, adults forget about it and have unhealthy feelings for kids who are enduring it.
That's the case with "Towelhead", a comedy-of-age dramedy that's unapologetically gut punching, dropping in the realms of developing sexuality and toxic bigotry without a parachute.
In 1990, during the midst of the first Gulf War, shy but lovely 13-year-old Jasira Maroun (newcomer Summer Bashil) is growing up, much to the dismay of her vain, selfish divorced mother (underrated Maria Bello of "A History of Violence"). After an inappropriate pubic hair grooming session with her mom's boyfriend, Jasira's sent to live in Texas with her strict father (Peter MacDissi of "Six Feet Under"), a NASA employee of Lebanese descent, who abhors her daughter's "development" and infantilize her. He even refuses her to get tampons, for goodness sake!
It's also no fun for her being called a "towelhead" (hence the title) in school, mistaken for being Hispanic and unhealthily pursued by a married Army reservist (Aaron Eckhart, "The Dark Knight"), yet the last part isn't so clear cut.
Jasira's benefactors differ in sex ed tactics, but equally care for her, regardless. Neighbor Melina (Emmy winner Toni Collette of "The United States of Tara") is a liberal-minded and pregnant while Thomas (tyro equal Eugene Jones III) is a horny but lonely black teen. Growing up isn't easy, but it takes a lot of courage and some friends to deal with it.
Based on the novel by Alicia Erian, "Towelhead" is a sweet but blunt and smart satire that has moments of human inanity, societal conflicts, sexual growth and abuse. An Emmy and Oscar winner, writer-director Alan Ball ("American Beauty", "Six Feet Under", "True Blood") has neatly knitted a film that's hard to watch (especially for parents with daughters), but shouldn't be ignored because the film tells that ignorance, whether racial or sexual, is pandemic to everyone and doesn't discriminate.
Bashil's in a strong "me against the world" role, being of mixed race and sexually budding. Her erotic, orgasmic dreams of being a model, while looking at a skin mag, are comical, yet they're an oasis from a world populated by adults who are silly, hypocritical and arrogant. Macdissi's one of them, and he's great at it; he can court women outside his race but refuses his daughter to see a black boy.
Probably the hardest role here belongs to Eckhart, being a handsome pervert that echoes Humbert Humbert from the novel "Lolita", but he's fascinating as he's sexually enchanted by a person who "represents" the enemy his army's locked in combat.
I wish there was more of Bello, but her egotistical matriarch role is nicely countered with Collette's as a mother-to-be. Though awkward, Jones's character shares Bashil's character's loneliness; they're ethnic minorities in a predominately white school, let alone a white suburb, and it's required they have a romance to survive.
To some, the film may be racially exploitative (the alternative title "Nothing is Private" really belongs to a spy thriller), as welll as sexually, but "Towelhead" is socially brave and honest (especially in a post Sept. 11 America, where tempers are high), and it's a shame it's the last film released by Warner Bros's now-defunct, art-house unit.
There's always a need for films with brains, guts and an earthy spirit, and "Towelhead" is one of them.
5 out of 5 found this helpful.
Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink
