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Towelhead
A grosteque and unbelievable adaptation
By
BRETT MICHEL
|
September 17, 2008
TOWELHEAD
" alt="photo of 'TOWELHEAD'">
1.0
Stars
TOWELHEAD: Lots of button pushing, few believable individuals.
Why didn’t Alan Ball just title his film
Sand Nigger
or one of the other epithets bandied about in his grotesque adaptation of Alicia Erian’s novel? It’s clear he’s paid more attention to pushing buttons (yes, even
that
one) than putting believable humans on screen.
Towelhead
is the type of tripe that poses as enlightenment in “important” Oscar winners like
Crash
and
American Beauty
, and it’s guilty of more of the same: piling one contrivance on another, sacrificing character for contemptible irony. Worse, Ball’s directorial bow lacks the one element that elevated his overrated screenplay for
American Beauty
: Kevin Spacey’s career-defining performance. Newcomer Summer Bishil flounders as 13-year-old Jasira, a Lebanese-American Alice who’s entered a rabbit hole of molestation, mental abuse, racism, and rape in a Gulf War–era suburban Texas wonderland. Did veteran co-stars Maria Bello and Toni Collette (mothers both) actually believe this material was filmable?
124 minutes | Kendall Square
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ARTICLES BY BRETT MICHEL
EAGLE EYE
| October 02, 2008
A credulity-be-damned plot
INTERVIEW: SIMON PEGG
| October 01, 2008
Shaun of the Dead star on losing friends, alienating people, and wanking off to Gillian Anderson
MY BEST FRIEND'S GIRL
| September 24, 2008
Predictability ensues. Hilarity doesn’t.
THE LUCKY ONES
| September 24, 2008
A contrived film about the war in Iraq
TOWELHEAD
| September 17, 2008
A grosteque and unbelievable adaptation
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