Live from TIFF: Towelhead (Formally Known As-Nothing Is Private)
Note: On January 14th 2008, this review was edited. Alan Ball has changed the title to "Towelhead" as opposed to the original "Nothing Is Private." This review has been edited to reflect that change.
Towelhead ****
Directed by Alan Ball
124 Minutes
"I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday. "
-Speech from "American Beauty," written by Alan Ball
If you have read the speech above, quoted verbatim from "American Beauty," which is often my favorite film, or have seen the film or the HBO television series "Six Feet Under," than you will know what a daring and lurid and interesting and great writer Alan Ball is. Little did we know that there was such a great writer under our eyes, but the Academy did when they gave him the Oscar for "American Beauty." Ball had done some directing work on his television show, but mostly stuck to writing, and with "Towelhead"-currently the best film I've seen at this years Toronto Film Festival-he makes his directing debut for a feature film.
"Towelhead" is based on the novel of the same name, written by Alicia Erian. The film is about Jasira (played by nineteen year old Summer Bishil who deserves an Oscar), a young thirteen year old Arab-American girl. When her mother's boyfriend ends up shaving her (down there. . .) her mother gets mad and sends her to Texas to live with her father Rifat. Right away things begin to go wrong. Rifat lives in a suburban location, and place where privacy is certainly never practiced-revisited themes from Balls' "American Beauty." Her father disapproves of almost everything, including his daughter going out with Thomas, a good kid but his problem is that he is black. Jasira begins to babysit for Zack, a boy next door that dubs her Towelhead, a word that he learned from his father, Mr. Vuoso (played perfectly by Aaron Eckhart, the best actor in the world to hire if you want a character whose a bastard through and through). Mr. Vuoso is an Army reservist, and because of Jasari's father's nationality, he is convinced that he is in love in Saddaam and all he stands for. The only person that seems to actually care about Jasira, and to make sure that she is able to live her live is her next door neighbor, the very kind and very pregnant Melina (played by Toni Collette). But Jasira's young adult life is shattered by her advanced looks, her very unprivate life, and her interest in sex that is beyond her years.
There was no distribution company band before the film, probably because the film has yet to be picked. But why? The cast is quite A-list for the most part, and Alan Ball has won an Oscar before, and "Six Feet Under" was a hit show. Probably because of the strong and graphic subject matter that Ball presents. But all he does is show us things that we generally would not want to see-especially when Jasira begins to get her periods. But this just highlights the titles, making us see things that people would generally consider private. But in this world, for Jasira, nothing is private-both because of the neighborhood she lives in, where everybody is involved in each others business, and because of her religion. Her father does not want her involved in certain things and makes his presence and his anger known. This is cultural commentary. Ball does goes back to suburban commentary here, making many of his characters a bit over the top and labels them all strongly. But at the same time he gives them an odd humanity. For example, Jasira's father is a racist and somewhat cruel, but from time to time he would show a different side to himself. And then literally a second later he'll unredeem himself. Such is life. Such are people.
The acting is all very solid, especially Summer Bishil who carried every scene, and she makes very talented actors like Eckhart, Mario Bello, and Collette look like amateurs. She's that good. Ball once again balances humor and drama, often making us laugh at very dark topics that we wouldn't usually laugh at. At times I was wondering what made certain things funny-they were usually very shocking. A Q&A with the actors afterwards revealed that they found humor in the script, but not really when they were shooting. This is very adult material, and I wouldn't be surprised if they got an NC-17. But I wouldn't edit it. I wouldn't change a thing. Ball is a very gifted writer, and he takes chances with directing-something that another talented writer this year failed to do with his first directing job-and I'm talking about Mike White's "Year of the Dog." I think the only thing that was wrong with the film was that it was shot with a digital camera, but the cinematography works very well to sometimes make me forget that. It's a decent film to look at, but I really just don't like digital camerawork.
And I'll mention Thomas Newman's score. Ball doesn't really use much of the score here, so instead of Newman balancing out quirky instruments and banging with loud and beautiful heartfelt pieces-like he does with "Road to Perdition"-we mostly get that quirky banging noise. But it's neat, and Newman is my favorite composer for a reason-he is always presenting something unusual. "Towelhead" should get a deal, hopefully, even though it is a bit shocking to watch. But its another gem from Ball, and the best film I've seen in the last few days.
Towelhead ****
Directed by Alan Ball
124 Minutes
"I had always heard your entire life flashes in front of your eyes the second before you die. First of all, that one second isn't a second at all, it stretches on forever, like an ocean of time... For me, it was lying on my back at Boy Scout camp, watching falling stars... And yellow leaves, from the maple trees, that lined my street... Or my grandmother's hands, and the way her skin seemed like paper... And the first time I saw my cousin Tony's brand new Firebird... And Janie... And Janie... And... Carolyn. I guess I could be pretty pissed off about what happened to me... but it's hard to stay mad, when there's so much beauty in the world. Sometimes I feel like I'm seeing it all at once, and it's too much, my heart fills up like a balloon that's about to burst... And then I remember to relax, and stop trying to hold on to it, and then it flows through me like rain and I can't feel anything but gratitude for every single moment of my stupid little life... You have no idea what I'm talking about, I'm sure. But don't worry... you will someday. "
-Speech from "American Beauty," written by Alan Ball
If you have read the speech above, quoted verbatim from "American Beauty," which is often my favorite film, or have seen the film or the HBO television series "Six Feet Under," than you will know what a daring and lurid and interesting and great writer Alan Ball is. Little did we know that there was such a great writer under our eyes, but the Academy did when they gave him the Oscar for "American Beauty." Ball had done some directing work on his television show, but mostly stuck to writing, and with "Towelhead"-currently the best film I've seen at this years Toronto Film Festival-he makes his directing debut for a feature film.
"Towelhead" is based on the novel of the same name, written by Alicia Erian. The film is about Jasira (played by nineteen year old Summer Bishil who deserves an Oscar), a young thirteen year old Arab-American girl. When her mother's boyfriend ends up shaving her (down there. . .) her mother gets mad and sends her to Texas to live with her father Rifat. Right away things begin to go wrong. Rifat lives in a suburban location, and place where privacy is certainly never practiced-revisited themes from Balls' "American Beauty." Her father disapproves of almost everything, including his daughter going out with Thomas, a good kid but his problem is that he is black. Jasira begins to babysit for Zack, a boy next door that dubs her Towelhead, a word that he learned from his father, Mr. Vuoso (played perfectly by Aaron Eckhart, the best actor in the world to hire if you want a character whose a bastard through and through). Mr. Vuoso is an Army reservist, and because of Jasari's father's nationality, he is convinced that he is in love in Saddaam and all he stands for. The only person that seems to actually care about Jasira, and to make sure that she is able to live her live is her next door neighbor, the very kind and very pregnant Melina (played by Toni Collette). But Jasira's young adult life is shattered by her advanced looks, her very unprivate life, and her interest in sex that is beyond her years.
There was no distribution company band before the film, probably because the film has yet to be picked. But why? The cast is quite A-list for the most part, and Alan Ball has won an Oscar before, and "Six Feet Under" was a hit show. Probably because of the strong and graphic subject matter that Ball presents. But all he does is show us things that we generally would not want to see-especially when Jasira begins to get her periods. But this just highlights the titles, making us see things that people would generally consider private. But in this world, for Jasira, nothing is private-both because of the neighborhood she lives in, where everybody is involved in each others business, and because of her religion. Her father does not want her involved in certain things and makes his presence and his anger known. This is cultural commentary. Ball does goes back to suburban commentary here, making many of his characters a bit over the top and labels them all strongly. But at the same time he gives them an odd humanity. For example, Jasira's father is a racist and somewhat cruel, but from time to time he would show a different side to himself. And then literally a second later he'll unredeem himself. Such is life. Such are people.
The acting is all very solid, especially Summer Bishil who carried every scene, and she makes very talented actors like Eckhart, Mario Bello, and Collette look like amateurs. She's that good. Ball once again balances humor and drama, often making us laugh at very dark topics that we wouldn't usually laugh at. At times I was wondering what made certain things funny-they were usually very shocking. A Q&A with the actors afterwards revealed that they found humor in the script, but not really when they were shooting. This is very adult material, and I wouldn't be surprised if they got an NC-17. But I wouldn't edit it. I wouldn't change a thing. Ball is a very gifted writer, and he takes chances with directing-something that another talented writer this year failed to do with his first directing job-and I'm talking about Mike White's "Year of the Dog." I think the only thing that was wrong with the film was that it was shot with a digital camera, but the cinematography works very well to sometimes make me forget that. It's a decent film to look at, but I really just don't like digital camerawork.
And I'll mention Thomas Newman's score. Ball doesn't really use much of the score here, so instead of Newman balancing out quirky instruments and banging with loud and beautiful heartfelt pieces-like he does with "Road to Perdition"-we mostly get that quirky banging noise. But it's neat, and Newman is my favorite composer for a reason-he is always presenting something unusual. "Towelhead" should get a deal, hopefully, even though it is a bit shocking to watch. But its another gem from Ball, and the best film I've seen in the last few days.
posted by Eric at
8:16 PM
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