Towelhead (film)
| Towelhead | |
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Theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Alan Ball |
| Produced by |
Ted Hope Alan Ball |
| Screenplay by | Alan Ball |
| Based on |
Towelhead by Alicia Erian |
| Starring |
Aaron Eckhart Toni Collette Maria Bello Peter Macdissi Summer Bishil |
| Music by | Thomas Newman |
| Cinematography | Newton Thomas Sigel |
| Edited by | Andy Keir |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Warner Independent Pictures |
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Release date
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Running time
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124 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English French Arabic Spanish |
| Box office | $675,662 |
Towelhead (alternatively titled Nothing is Private) is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by Alan Ball and based on Alicia Erian's novel of the same name. The film made its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2007 under the name Nothing is Private. The film, like the book, touches on issues of sexual awakening, privacy, and race.
Set in 1990 amid the Kuwait War of 1990-91, Towelhead tells the coming-of-age story of a 13-year-old Lebanese American girl named Jasira (Summer Bishil). She first lives with her mother in Syracuse, New York, but when her mother's live-in boyfriend helps Jasira shave her pubic hair, her mother sends Jasira to live with her old-fashioned and domineering Lebanese father Rifat (Peter Macdissi) in suburban Houston, Texas. Jasira is treated as a second class citizen by her overprotective father. He is strict, does not allow her to use tampons, and prefers spending time with his new girlfriend, Thena. Even her mother refuses to support her when she calls and begs for help, forcing Jasira to comply with his rules. Her father acts very disrespectful towards her and berates her for the slightest thing. As a Lebanese American citizen he engages in stereotypical patriarchal, sexist and racist behavior.
Jasira experiences a sexual awakening at her neighbor's home which is sparked in part by adult magazines she finds when baby-sitting the next-door neighbor boy Zack Vuoso (Chase Ellison), son of Travis Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart). While Jasira is home alone one night, Mr. Vuoso comes over to retrieve one of his magazines and he ends up sexually assaulting her. Jasira befriends a classmate, Thomas Bradley (Eugene Jones), eventually becoming sexually active with him. When Rifat finds out about her relationship with Thomas, he forbids her from ever seeing him, only because he's black. Mr. Vuoso becomes jealous of Jasira's relationship with Thomas and, pretending he has to go to Iraq the next morning, tricks Jasira into sleeping with him. When Rifat finds one of Mr. Vuoso's adult magazines at his house, he beats Jasira and she seeks refuge at the home of Melina (Toni Collette), who is pregnant and her husband, Gil, neighbors that were aware and concerned of Mr. Vuoso's inappropriate behavior towards Jasira from the beginning. While staying at their house, Gil notices bruises on Jasira's legs and Rifat angrily knocks the door wants to retrieve his daughter, when both Melinda and Gil, refuse to let Rifat in, he treatens to call the police and claim that they kidnapped his daughter, but Gil responds to Rifat that he'll tell them about the bruises he left on Jisara. She goes to school the next day and Melina picks her up, along with Thomas. When they make it back home, they decide to have sex, but are almost caught by Melina
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