Review of Towelhead (2008) by Serdar C — 15 Oct 2008

Alan Ball, the creator of Six Feet Under (my favoritte series ever) and the writer of American Beauty (in my Top 5) can't do no wrong. He, once again, walks around the suburbs and points out how rotten it can get. I was surprised to see that he adapted the screenplay from a novel but while watching it I saw how suitable it is to the director and how smilar to his other works. He tells the story of an Arab-American girl, her sexual awakening in a dysfunctional family in a dysfunctional society. Some scenes are hard to watch, most people may find them offensive (some people left the theatre during molestation scenes) but they don't exploit the subject, they have their purposes. The director doesn't take sides telling the story, he just fights with every kind of discrimination.

You will see some top class acting in this one, Summer Bishil as the little girl, Maria Bello as the selfish mother, Aaron Eckhart as the mollester neighbour, Toni Collette and Matt Letscher as liberal, activist couple are all great in their roles. But PETER MACDISSI as the Arab-American father, owns this movie! Born in Lebanon, Beirut like his character, it's like he is created for this role! I know this movie won't get a wide audience but I really think he must be nominated for Oscar for this performance. The movie is mostly dark but it also has a great sense of humor, there are a few laughing out loud moments.

At the end of the day, with his every work, Alan Ball show us the collapse of morality in society, how people get more selfish every day, manipulate other people for their own pleasures. How every kind of community, starting with the family, lose their funtion and people become more and more lonely everyday.

"Marrhaba!".