Towelhead

I respect Allan Ball for his masterful script for American Beauty, and as an artist he tends to be close to my sensibilities (Six Feet Under is one of my favorite shows and I love True Blood, too). He usually personally directs the opening or closing episodes of the individual series, so I knew directing shouldn't be a problem (and it really wasn't). Plus, you'd think that a writer of the caliber Alan Ball undoubtedly is simply couldn't write a bad script. In this case, it's probably the characters that bothered me most about Towelhead (in American Beauty, without exception, all the characters were at least in some way likeable or interesting to me). The racist, overbearing, at times even fascist father, the half-Lebanese, half-American teenage nymphomaniac, the pig-headed middle-aged neighbor, and the horny African-American. The story ultimately comes off as the "ordinary girl turns teenage slut" formula, and that’s material more for a teen parody rather than a "serious yet biting Ball drama". A big disappointment. 3 stars out of residual loyalty to Alan Ball. (28.09.2012)

Growing up isn’t easy. Especially not if you’re a thirteen-year-old mixed-race girl in the United States who is "raised" by an incompetent mother and a bigoted father, and you are more interested in sex than is the norm. I mean the practical aspect of it. Fortunately, there's always someone around who's selfless enough to help; from the local neighborhood pedophile to her classmate, to her pregnant neighbor (but she's innocent in all this). I still enjoyed the film, and as much as I hate militant feminists, I have to side with them here. Jasira may have started a bit prematurely, so she gets immediately labeled a nymphomaniac or a slut. If she were a boy, she would be celebrated, at least in the eyes of the male audience. I support gender equality in this case. / Lesson learned: The main difference between a pedophile and a teacher is that a pedophile really likes kids. (29.07.2022)

Among the types of cinema are uncomplicated entertainment, formal beauty, or noble sentiment. Towelhead is a representative of another kind - provocative cinema. No, it's not about punk or rebellion, but rather about breaking certain taboos and established social clichés. If American films are not accustomed to dealing with the sexuality of 13-year-old girls - at most as victims of abuse - then the average viewer will probably be surprised by the main protagonist as a teenager who wants sex and recognition from the adult world. However, representatives of the adult world do not behave like they are out of a textbook either. The result is a strong and ambiguous drama that defies trends and expectations. To not just praise the film, apart from a very successful sexual dimension, the film also includes a dimension of racial conflict, but it presents it in a quite conventional way compared to the rest, thus having a less powerful impact on the audience. Ball's film seems underrated to me, but I don't have any issues giving it 5 stars. It is really good, although not everyone will be able to digest it. Overall impression: 90%. (13.10.2015)