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List Price: $27.98Amazon.com's Price: $19.99 You Save: $7.99 (29%)Prices subject to change.
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Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Warner Brothers
EAN: 0883929047505
Format: Color, DVD-Video, Widescreen, NTSC
Label: Warner Home Video
Manufacturer: Warner Home Video
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Warner Home Video
Region Code: 1
Release Date: December 30, 2008
Running Time: 116 minutes
Sales Rank: 2535
Studio: Warner Home Video
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Editorial Review:
Product Description:
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 12/30/2008 Run time: 117 minutes Rating: R
Amazon.com:
Haunting and moving, Alan Ball's directorial debut, Towelhead, settles around the viewer for hours, days, afterward, as its delicate layers unfold. Ball, the screenwriter of American Beauty and the creator of HBO's splendid Six Feet Under, revisits some familiar territory here, yet bestows grace upon even his most flawed characters. The film follows the life of 13-year-old Jasira (Summer Bishil), quiet and compliant, who's shuttled between an uncaring American-born mom and a strict, bigoted Lebanese-American dad (Peter Macdissi). When she goes to Houston to live with her father, Jasira starts babysitting for a bratty neighbor kid, whose dad (Aaron Eckhart) takes an unnatural interest in the girl. A new classmate, Tommy, also desires the eighth grader, and one begins to feel Jasira's whole world is a predatory nightmare. Yet the film, while uncomfortable at times to watch, manages to provoke without appalling. Young Jasira is exploring her own sexual awakening, secretly (with echoes of American Beauty), and so desires adult attention that she tiptoes into a flirtation with Eckhart's character, Mr. Vuoso--who is undeniably creepy, yet Eckhart's performance gives Vuoso a begrudging sympathy, no small feat. It's the film's achievement that characters the viewer should be repulsed by--the harsh, overbearing dad; the pervy Mr. Vuoso--have more than a shred of humanity. And luckily for young Jasira, another neighbor, played by Toni Collette, takes her under her wing--and there's almost a palpable sigh of relief when she does. And the script is shot through with humor, which doesn't exactly leaven the intense subject matter, but provides some lightness. When Jasira gets her first period, uptight dad takes her shopping for sanitary pads (no! tampons! ever!), and in the harsh light of the drugstore asks the mortified girl, 'Would you describe your situation as Light, Medium, or Heavy?' Bishil is a lovely new discovery, like Thora Birch or Wes Bentley of Beauty, and stays true to herself while the adults around her--with the exception of Collette's Melina--let her down, or worse. The cinematography, draped in shadows, underscores Jasira's unstated plea: See me. Notice me. Care about me. --A.T. Hurley
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - one of 2008's best films
****1/2
Even at the tender young age of 13, the strikingly beautiful Jasira seems destined to go through life igniting the passions of the men and boys around her. A product of a mixed marriage (her mother is white, her father Lebanese) and a broken home, she lives with her strict, traditionalist dad in a Texas suburb during the time of the first Gulf War. Though shy by nature, Jasira seems wise beyond her years when it comes to exploring her burgeoning sexuality. Like many girls ... Read More
Rating:  - What on Earth were they thinking?
I don't understand how movies like this get produced. We have the option to watch it or not watch it, but the fact that it exists is creepy to say the least. It has no real point besides there are some sick people out there and easy to get girls. But I watched it and fast forwarded many scenes to see what it was about.
If you don't already know, the girl in the movie is really 20 years old but looks like she could be 10. The fact that she is having sex at the age of 13 is not a problem ... Read More
Rating:  - This movie is SICK!!!!!!
We had to turn this movie off after about 12 minutes. The writers of this movie are sick, child predators--don't rent/buy this movie!!!!!!
Rating: - Tough Subject, Some Clumsy Handling, but Fine Acting
TOWELHEAD may have been the successful title of the novel by Alicia Erian on which this daring movie was based, but it seems that the title could have been altered to focus on the real issues writer/director Alan Ball addresses. The audience for a film based on variations of child abuse and racism and prejudice and dismembered parenting and the physical coming of age of our youth may be small, but for those who had the courage to view TOWELHEAD either in the theater release or on DVD, the rewards are ... Read More
Rating: - Squirm-inducing movie that deals with sensitive issues
With a title like "Towelhead", I assumed that the movie would be dealing primarily with racism, but I was wrong. Though racism is explored in this movie, it only skims the surface. The story centers around 13-year-old Jasira [Summer Bishil] who lives with her mother [Maria Bello] and her mother's live-in boyfriend. When mom's BF gets overly intimate with Jasira, mom goes into panic mode and sends Jasira away to Houston to live with her Lebanese-American dad [who is Christian by the way] Rifat [Peter Macdissi]. ... Read More
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