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Every movie has its own objectives. Some movies aim to make viewers laugh. Some aim merely to entertain. And others aim to have some sort of powerful effect on their audience. Writer/director Alan Ball’s Towelhead clearly falls into the latter category. And it certainly had a powerful effect on me—though not in a good way.
Based on Alicia Erian’s autobiography, Towelhead tells a troubling coming-of-age story about a teenage girl who suddenly finds herself immersed in a world that she’s much too young and immature to handle.
After her mother’s boyfriend shows a bit too much interest in her newly-developing body, 13-year-old Jasira (Summer Bishil) is shipped off to Houston to live with her strict Lebanese father, Rifat (Peter Macdissi). There, while babysitting, she discovers her neighbor’s porn collection—piles of magazines filled with naked, busty blondes—and she starts experiencing some strange feelings that she doesn’t quite understand.
While her father is away with his new girlfriend, Jasira begins a highly inappropriate relationship with her porn-loving Army reservist neighbor (Aaron Eckhart). She also starts spending time with her horny African-American classmate (Eugene Jones), much to the dismay of her racist father. And the only one who seems to care at all is her next-door neighbor, Melina (Toni Collette).
Now, in case you haven’t noticed, I watch a lot of movies. Some of them are pretty violent. Some are graphic. Some are just plain disturbing. Rarely, however, is a movie so disturbing that it literally makes me feel sick—but this one did.
Towelhead isn’t your typical coming-of-age story—in which a sweet high school girl falls in love for the first time (and awkward hilarity ensues). Instead, it’s a violent and disturbingly graphic story about a child of 13 (thirteen!) being used and molested by her much, much older neighbor while her abusive father wanders off to shack up with his girlfriend.
Yes, it’s a true story—which makes me feel truly sorry for Alicia Erian—but it’s not one that I would ever recommend watching. As with another disturbing autobiographical film, 2006’s Running with Scissors, Towelhead isn’t entertaining or enlightening. It’s just plain sad.
With the exception of Collette’s Melina and her husband, Gil (Matt Letscher)—who offer the sole voice of reason in the film—the adult characters are completely unlikable. Most, in fact, are absolutely detestable. Jasira’s mom is so childish and self-centered that she’d rather blame her daughter for her boyfriend’s actions than lose her boyfriend. Jasira’s dad is thoughtless and abusive—and though he beats her for using a tampon, it never occurs to him that he probably shouldn’t leave his 13-year-old daughter home alone for nights on end. And her neighbor is just simply revolting.
Often, when a movie makes me feel uncomfortable, it’s a good thing. It means that it’s opened my eyes to something that’s never really crossed my mind—and I’ve learned a powerful lesson. But after watching Towelhead, I didn’t feel like I’d learned anything at all. I just felt sick.
Towelhead isn’t a beautiful film, nor is it a meaningful film. It’s needlessly graphic and pointlessly disturbing. In fact, it seems that its main objective was to be controversial. In that, it definitely succeeds—but that doesn’t make it worth watching.
