On the Big Board |
| Position |
Staff |
In Brief |
| 12/196 |
Max Braden |
This movie hits the ground running, juxtaposing humor with strongly discomforting scenes. Peter Macdissi is great. |
With a title sure to cause no commotion whatsoever, Six Feet Under creator Allan Ball's film directorial debut is based on the Alicia Erian novel of the same name and written for the screen by Ball. Towelhead features Summer Bishil as a teen sent to live with her strict Lebanese father.
As Bishil's character adjusts to adolescence, her mother sends her to live with her father in Houston. Set during the Gulf War, the film follows Bishil and her father as they are met with great interest by their neighbors and each falls into a lonely life that manages to not include the other. What sounds like a painfully large array of awkward issues pops up as well: teen sexuality, sexual obsession, pedophilia, racism, and child abuse…ah the joys of cinema.
Film topicality doesn't scream "I want an Oscar!" any more than this and the cast features Aaron Eckhart, Toni Collette and Maria Bello, so that strategy may bear fruit. There's perhaps no better role for Aaron Eckhart than "creepy bigoted pedophile neighbor". For the record, BOP is in no way suggesting that any of the last three things mentioned there are true about Aaron Eckhart.
Speaking of creepy, one has to wonder what Alan Ball is like in real life. Does he drive a hearse and live in a former mortuary? Does he only make morbid jokes? Does he only say sardonic things? inquiring minds want to know. (Les Winan/BOP)
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