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Quint loves Alan Ball's TOWELHEAD!!!
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
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Hrmmm?
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Did I just say "ZOMG"?
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But the movie sounds uninteresting and a bit twisted. I'll pass.
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Damn, she's going to be a stunner! And she's almost 20 years old so fuck off. Leave me alone.
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I could use some new alan ball stuff. Seems like six feet under finished years ago. hmm...
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a lot.
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It is hilarious when it wants to be, it'sabsolutely devastating at other times, and every performance is just incredible. Only saw it once, and it was at the festival, so perhaps my perspective was skewed, but I think I enjoyed it more than American Beauty. Actually upset about the title change though. I know Towelhead was the name of the book, but Nothing is Private is SO much more of a "Ball" title, and it's got a more universal meaning to the various plots in the movie. When is this getting a wide release!?
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is a god amongst men. 6FU is the best show there has ever been on tv (oh shit except sopranos) and the finale actualy made me shed a man-tear or two. I absolutely cannot wait.
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Does that include "Planet" Houston in Superman II?! Blasphemer!
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Jan 23, 2008 7:57:44 AM CST
"Nothing is Private" sounds like a Lifetime Original Movie
by reynard muldrake
"The Celeste Cunningham Story"
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that was the dumbest piece of over-hyped whitebread angst i had seen until 'crash'. 'look at my flying bag! it's so beautiful...'; that about sums up the whole movie. alan ball is also like haggis in that he's the perfect conduit for wasted, oversimplified upper middle class guilt-style preaching. i'd rather have my eyes poked out than watch another damn thing these two cheezballs put on the screen (except for bond, which is now forever tainted with his stink, but that i'll still watch 'cause i love me some james bond). 'towelhead' is a perfect title 'cause that's what i'll need to watch the film- a towel wrapped over my eyes and ears...
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Why he keeps returning to middle-aged men and underage girls? Once was an interesting film - again? One trick or rather uncomfortable fetish?
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"Jasira and Friends". Sets just the right mood.
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So now we have a film depicting an American soldier as a child molester. How quaint.
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Come on! You kid! This site and it's ridiculous of ALL movies is getting out of hand. When you love everything your opinion becomes meaningless Quint! Whatever happened to criticism? And yeah, I am sure there will be two acting nominations coming from this film. Care to place a wager on that?
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was utterly depressing which I think will be more so in terms of cinema.
Does the film differ from the book Quint? -
another title for consideration
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You also called me an idiot for predicting Juno would get nominations for actress and original screenplay. How's that working out for you? Ass.
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I just think the staff writers of this site prefer to review movies they like, instead of reviewing movies they hate. I mean, they don't have a publisher, so they don't HAVE to review a movie if they don't want to. They either review a movie they like, which is fun, or, less frequently to be sure, find a movie they enjoy bashing and review that.
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I definitely write negative reviews, but I prefer not to trash reviews of movies that don't have distribution. It's been an unofficial policy here at the site not to harp on movies that don't have distribution. What's the point? I'm not going to warn anybody off of it and why should one person's opinion harm an up and coming filmmaker and his or her chances to make it? Now, if some of the horrible movies I've seen at the fest get picked up you'll see my negative reviews of those. So far I've only hated 2 or 3 movies I've seen and I've been lukewarm on quite a few, like the reviewed Good Dick and Be Kind Rewind. I'm not loving every movie I see, so don't worry. I'm just trying to give attention to those that really have promise or that I really dig.
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by like thre people, including Quint.there are plenty of crappy movie site where they just trash every movie, AS, why don't you go there and leave us all alone.
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I loved the novel. Had no idea Ball was directing a film version. Seems like an ideal choice.
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At least its the truth. Remember how they changed the name of Ewan McGreggors character in Black Hawk Down because his real life counterpart liked to diddle kiddies? This makes up for it.
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And the truth is no AICN review is going to hurt or help a movie, period! These sites think they have so much power, they do not. Distributors may take ALL reviews into account as some part of the process, but to say one bad review on AICN is going to doom a film's chances is ludicrous on its face.
I'd like to see an honest accounting of what Quint's seen and what he's thought. He chooses to self censor and I appreciate his reasoning, I just think it is flawed and ultimately illogical.
And to BadMrWonka, please, just, please. Your shit is so old, and so very tired. Owned? You wish motherfucker.
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