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Movies / On DVD / Towelhead
Towelhead

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Towelhead (2008)

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48 %
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Reviews Counted: 107

Fresh: 51

Rotten:56

Average Rating: 5.3/10

Consensus: This story of politics, race and, sexual awakening has moments that pack a punch, but overall, Towelhead never quite achieves the nuance of helmer Alan Ball's television work.

Rated: R [See Full Rating] for strong disturbing sexual content and abuse involving a young teen, and for language.

Runtime: 2 hrs 4 mins

Genre: Dramas

Theatrical Release:Sep 12, 2008 Limited

Box Office: $277,354

Synopsis: 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... 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. [More]

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, Maria Bello, Peter Macdissi

Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette, Maria Bello, Peter Macdissi, Summer Bishil

Director: Alan Ball

Director: Alan Ball
Screenwriter: Alan Ball
Producer: Ted Hope, Alan Ball
Composer: Thomas Newman
Studio: Warner Independent

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Release:

Dec 30, 2008

[DVD Details]
 
 

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.85

Audio:

  • Dolby Digital - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Featurette: (2) - Exlpore the Controversy Surrounding the Film
 
 
 
 

Reviews for Towelhead

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1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
Arrange By: Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A philosophy of the appeal of innocence and perversion in a repressed world...

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
02/09/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Flick Filosopher | comment Comment
01/09/09
MaryAnn Johanson
Flick Filosopher

Few may have paid attention during its theatrical run, but DVD should offer a whole new life to a smart, engaging film that genuinely has something worthwhile to say.

Full Review Source: Aisle Seat | comment Comment
12/30/08
Mike McGranaghan
Aisle Seat

Towelhead makes "American Beauty" look like a quaint suburban drama.

Full Review Source: What Would Toto Watch? | comment Comment
12/26/08
Christian Toto
What Would Toto Watch?

As a director [Ball] amplifies the flaws in his own writing; his supporting characters are too broadly pitched to take seriously, and he tends to smack you in the face with the point of every scene.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
12/17/08
J. R. Jones
Chicago Reader
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There is hardly a scene that does not produce exquisite discomfort and a strong desire to be somewhere else.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
12/11/08
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Deftly sidesteps the muckraking and instead serves up an affecting drama about a lovely child who can't seem to catch a break from most of the adults surrounding her.

Full Review Source: Creative Loafing | comment Comment
11/26/08
Matt Brunson
Creative Loafing

Ball drops the poisonous little voodoo dolls he mistakes for characters into a ... realistic environment, as though that will somehow render his story more "serious."

Full Review Source: Los Angeles CityBeat | comment Comment
11/12/08
Andy Klein
Los Angeles CityBeat

It wasn’t enjoyable at any level.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment 2 Comments
11/05/08
Ben Lyons
At the Movies

This movie will challenge you on a number of levels, including some beliefs you’d never thought you’d question.

Full Review Source: At the Movies | comment Comment
11/05/08
Ben Mankiewicz
At the Movies

An empty provocation that's about as classy and subtle as its title.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Weekly | comment Comment
10/28/08
Sean Burns
Philadelphia Weekly

It is a multicultural Lolita that searches for, but still manages to miss, any redemptive core its source material may boast.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
10/24/08
Jim Slotek
Jam! Movies

It is certainly possible to make a transgressive movie about children in sexual jeopardy, and to do so in ways that realistically and intelligently depict the abuse while not revelling in it.

Full Review Source: Toronto Star | comment Comment
10/24/08
Peter Howell
Toronto Star
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Ball knows how to fit his themes in seamlessly, weaving a charming, dark, funny, thoroughly entertaining parody of Americana.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
10/18/08
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch | comment Comment
10/18/08
St. Louis Post-Dispatch

It’s impossible to look away.

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
10/18/08
Tasha Robinson
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Give Bishil props for a truly brave performance. Eckhart and Macdissi do what they can, as does Toni Collette as a concerned neighbor who tries to save Jasira from Eckhart. But the script isn't up to the actors.

Full Review Source: San Diego Metropolitan | comment Comment
10/18/08
Jean Lowerison
San Diego Metropolitan

Summer Bishil turns in a gutsy, quietly riveting performance as Jasira.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
10/18/08
Gary Goldstein
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It makes sense that the scenes are pitched between icky and titillating, but the lack of delicacy reduces everything to stock sordidness.

Full Review Source: Time Out Sydney | comment Comment
10/17/08
David Fear
Time Out Sydney

Brings up some interesting points, but it's also too eager to shock and too eager to condemn.

Full Review Source: The Cinema Source | comment Comment
10/12/08
Michael Dance
The Cinema Source
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 >> >|
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Latest News for Towelhead

January 03, 2009: In a movie that was once more aptly titled, Nothing Is Private, Towelhead kicks open the suburban bedroom door and exposes often silent personal terrors that are both rudely shocking and uncomfortably familiar. Opens in new window
More...

December 29, 2008: RT on DVD: A Matthew McConaughey Stinker or Event Horizon on Blu-ray?
It's officially the last DVD release week of the year, although much like the box office, most big-ticket new releases debuted last week in time for Christmas. Nevertheless,... More...

December 28, 2008: In a movie that was once more aptly titled, Nothing Is Private, Towelhead kicks open the suburban bedroom door and exposes often silent personal terrors that are both rudely shocking and uncomfortably familiar. Opens in new window
More...

September 12, 2008: Aaron Eckhart Talks Towelhead, Life After TDK Opens in new window
He's been around for awhile, but he's never starred in something as huge as "The Dark Knight" -- so what's it like being Aaron Eckhart right now? The Deadbolt's Jordan Riefe... More...

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