Ahoy, squirts! Quint here. I had a very strong day of film. I saw four films and three of them I love, the other I kinda like. I’ll be talking about one I love: Alan Ball’s TOWELHEAD (the superior title… this movie screened at Toronto under the lame title NOTHING IS PRIVATE). This is the type of movie that you’re really impressed with when you see it and then as the hours tick by you really let it sink in and it kind of blows you away with how good it is. TOWELHEAD is about a 13 year old Lebanese girl named Jasira. Her parents are both kind of douchebags. She lives with her bitchy mom (played perfectly by Maria Bello) until her mom’s boyfriend shaves little Jasira’s bikini line. Being the good person she is, Bello sends her daughter away instead of kicking the perv out, so off to suburban Houston Jasira goes so she can live with her strict Lebanese father as Bush Sr. begins the Gulf War. Jasira goes through a sexual awakening during this time in Houston. She’s confused, excited and both innocent and aggressive in equal measures. She catches the eye of an army reservist living next door (Aaron Eckhart) and the real trouble starts. While it doesn’t feel like a retread of AMERICAN BEAUTY, you can definitely feel Alan Ball’s fingerprints on this. TOWELHEAD could easily exist in the same world as BEAUTY. The performances in the film are amazing all across the board. I know we haven’t even had last year’s Oscars yet, but I predict at least two acting noms for this one. Young Summer Bishil who plays the lead girl, Jasira, and Peter Macdissi, who plays her over-protective and demanding father. They’re both amazing in the film, but Macdissi really blew me away. His is a character you should hate. He’s a hypocrite (enforcing traditional values on his daughter that he willingly ignores when it comes to his own girlfriend), he’s abusive, he’s strangely jealous of his daughter, he’s racist (even though he chides his neighbors for harboring racist views about him as the Gulf War heats up) and he’s just a right mean bastard. But he’s also got some great moments of lightness and subtle tenderness that give the character depth. All the characters, even the small ones, are painted in shades of grey. Even Eckhart’s character, who essentially molests this sweet young girl isn’t a one-dimensional villain. You feel sorry for him in a weird way. His relationship with Jasira isn’t right, but it was encouraged by Jasira. He should not have taken advantage, that’s true and what he did is despicable even if it was encouraged, but he wrestles with his inner demons visibly. Ball paints him as a pretty nice guy and doesn’t make any judgments about him. That’s up to us. We see him do some incredibly selfless things in the movie as well as the selfish and hurtful. Toni Collette is also fantastic in the film, playing the very pregnant next door neighbor who becomes a kind of guardian for Jasira. I think Collette’s character is the one easiest for the audience to identify with. TOWELHEAD is a powerful film, one that sticks with you after seeing it, with some world-class performances. Warner Independent has this and will release this limitedly in August. I just hope they don’t chicken out about the title or at least find one that’s better than NOTHING IS PRIVATE. Okay, a few more coming your way before my long, long, long day tomorrow. -Quint quint@aintitcool.com
