Forcefully disturbing take on “Lolita”.
Swift shot: This movie was NOTHING that I was expecting. I rented it because of the title and because I like controversial themes – challenging the mind is never a bad thing. Brilliant acting throughout the film and incredibly disturbing subject matter! Be warned, this one is aptly labeled controversial – it isn’t just a marketing stunt! Only the thick-skinned should view this one, seriously!
While the title implies this movie is about racism, it is really only the base of the film and merely used to bait the viewer. While I normally detract “points” for that sort of manipulation, it was brilliantly pulled off in Towelhead. From scene one, you’ll learn not to be so quick to judge the film, anymore than you should judge the characters.
With a Dickensian style to the story, a poor little blossoming outsider is kicked out of the house to go live with her megalomaniac father, who is really focused on everything else but his daughter – until his daughter disappoints him by choosing a member of the opposite race to date. Never owning up to their racism, nor hypocrisy, both parents, Rifat (Peter Macdissi) and Gail (Maria Bello) need to be dragged and quartered for failing to provide emotional support for their daughter. I guess my disgust for these characters is a credit to the actors, and I couldn’t find one actor (not even some of the kids) that gave mediocre performances.
Alan Ball is rapidly becoming my favorite director, his style appeals to me in a way I can’t share in writing. While he mostly writes for the small idiot box, Ball certainly knows how to get results from everyone on set, surrounding himself with talented, passionate (bonafide) artists. I think his real success must come from some stellar casting work, I don’t feel like any of the roles were forced and while the subject matter could end careers, the actors always seem comfortable committing their sins for Ball – almost like he put poppers in their PEZ! (That was for you, Ck)
Summer Bishil steals every scene, driving home the point that Jasira Maroun is just a little girl dealing with some incredibly mature issues. Her child-like commitment to Jasira was as imaginative as it was disturbing. Complementing her performance were Aaron Eckhart and Peter Macdissi who each took turns shaping her world-views in their own twisted ways.
Fantasy sequences serve to titillate and disturb, and fantasy sometimes falls short of the real thing – sometimes fantasy ruins reality too. I’ll let you be the judge with that one. Watching this film will leave a mark on your mind, might even make you wish you had never watched it in the first place – but, again, failure to confront the uncomfortable leads to failing to understand the uncomfortable.
For my part, I learned both lessons about pre-judging films (twice this month now) based on their titles and about the dramatic impact apathy can have on a child. Towelhead has another title, but it is really quite lame and cowardly, “Nothing is Private” but they could have gone with this title, “How NOT to raise a child!” which would have been spot-on.
Little side-note, I did some quick research on Ball, apparently his sister literally died “all over” him when he was 13, on her 22nd birthday – they were in a terrible accident. So, death and loss shaped him, artistically, at a very young age. While Towelhead doesn’t really focus on death, the death of innocence is carried throughout – no doubt, a testament to Ball’s own loss of innocence.
My only real criticism of the film would be the pacing in some places made no sense, and sometimes the disjointed weaving of the story detracted from the pulse overall. A few of the characters bored me, but again, real life is hardly all Megan Fox running around with robots, right Action Flick Chick? I will continue to follow anything Ball touches, the guy has definitely gotten my attention for the long-haul now.
