[REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

mongodisco
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[REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by mongodisco »   1 likes

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0787523/

Towelhead follows the dark, bold and shockingly funny life of Jasira, a 13-year-old Arab-American girl, as she navigates the confusing and frightening path of adolescence and her own sexual awakening.

When Jasira's mother sends her to Houston to live with her strict Lebanese father, she quickly learns that her new neighbors find her and her father a curiosity. Worse, her budding womanhood makes her traditional and hot-tempered father uncomfortable. Lonely in this new environment, Jasira seeks friendship and acceptance from her neighbors Mr. Vuoso, an Army reservist, and Melina, a meddling but caring expectant mother.

Thrown into an unfamiliar suburban world, Jasira must confront racism and hypocrisy at home and at school - and at the same time struggle to make sense of her raging hormones and newfound sexuality. Her boyfriend, Thomas, though a few years older, provides some comfort - but even that relationship causes problems when her father discovers that Thomas is black. Surrounded by adults who are just as lost as she is, Jasira yearns for understanding, even amidst often brutal acts.
Rich
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by Rich »   0 likes

Thanks for the post, sounds right :bigups :bigups :cool
FLL
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by FLL »   0 likes

Noticed this because it opened in theaters this past week as "Towelhead" (the title of the novel upon which it is based, one I've seen recommended). It might not be completely suitable for FLM since the lead actress, Summer Bishil, is now 20. Was probably 18, maybe 19, when filmed though I don't really know, but she is pretty and plays a thirteen year old. And the subject matter is definitely on topic.

Commonsense media is a site which reviews movies from a parent's perspective, with age ratings and details of what might not be suitable for kids.
http://www.commonsensemedia.org/movie-r ... lhead.html
Common Sense Review

Reviewed By: Renee Schonfeld

When 13-year-old Lebanese-American Jasira (Summer Bishil) threatens her insecure mother's relationship with a live-in boyfriend, the young teen is sent to live with her father, Rifat (Peter Macdissi), in an arid, charmless community in Texas. The self-absorbed Rifat hasn't a clue about parenting and relates to his daughter only as a misguided, short-tempered authority figure. In her desperate need for a loving, nurturing relationship, Jasira falls prey to the seductive advances of Mr. Vuoso (Aaron Eckhart), a military man who lives a few houses away; to the hormone-driven magnetism of Thomas (Eugene Jones III), an African-American classmate; and to the anti-Arab sentiment everywhere around her. Only the arrival of Melina (Toni Collette) in the house next door offers Jasira a safe harbor and the hope of a better life.

TOWELHEAD is very hard to watch. The fact that it's being touted as a "comedy" is misleading at the very least. The only laughs come when the audience reacts to the depths of cruelty, selfishness, and insensitivity on display. Even "black" comedy shouldn't be this bleak. When not laughing at the characters' witless behavior, viewers will gasp at their brutality, ugliness, and insensitivity. These are damaged people, stunted emotionally, blaming others, and wreaking havoc on the next generation.

If the intention of writer-director Alan Ball is to "shock" and "awe" audiences on his way to revealing that even the most vulnerable among us can survive nearly anything, he's partially successful. The performances are stellar, with all the actors making an effort to show the humanity beneath the horrific behavior. Unfortunately, the end product is just inescapably grim and relentless.

Other movies that tackle similarly difficult themes include Bastard Out of Carolina, Hard Candy, This Boy's Life, and Ball's own American Beauty.
Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that this disturbing movie is highly controversial by intent. The film's trailer sells it as a contemporary satire about an ethnically mixed culture, but the only humor comes from viewers' shock at seeing characters portrayed as ridiculously obtuse, cruel, and unaware. There are many scenes of intense psychological and sexual abuse. The victim is a 13-year-old girl who's dealing with her own budding sexual urges; throughout the film, she's at the mercy of predatory adults, dysfunctional parents, and race-baiting teens and kids. Scenes of masturbation, statutory rape, intercourse, and bare-breasted fantasies alternate with scenes of racial name-calling, dishonesty, jealousy, and heartlessness.
Sexual Content

Frequent sexual scenes that include bare-breasted women (in a magazine and in a sexual fantasy), a teen boy and girl having intercourse, sounds of an adult couple having sex, an adult male seducing and sexually assaulting 13-year-old, a teen boy and an adult male preparing to shave a young teen's pubic hair in two separate scenes, menstrual blood (including one scene of a bloody tampon), multiple scenes of teen masturbation (both off-camera and partially on-camera), and a teen girl being asked to strip for male pleasure on two occasions.
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loverboy
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by loverboy »   26 likes

[Image][Image]

Posted today at STF.......I see loads of sources. Also on Usenet. :)

[Image][Image][Image]
[Image][Image][Image]

Like this post to see ed2k links  [700.16 Mb]

Enjoy!
stargazer
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by stargazer »   0 likes

I´ve been anticipating this. Sounds really interesting. even though I have a strong aversion towards using old actresses to play kids. :(

Thanks a bunch
abel
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by abel »   0 likes

Looks interesting, appreciate also subs, but isn´t the girl too old for FLM?
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emuler
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by emuler »   0 likes

abel wrote:Looks interesting, appreciate also subs, but isn´t the girl too old for FLM?
She is, but read FLL's first post in this thread.
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ptguardian
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by ptguardian »   0 likes

very convincing portrayal of a thirteen year old. had me fooled. i put this in my top ten OT films. :thumbsup
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loverboy
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Re: [REL] Nothing is private / Towelhead (2008)

Post by loverboy »   0 likes

abel wrote:but isn´t the girl too old for FLM?
Yes she is but I was guessing that as two members of admin had responded to the thread it was OK to release. We need to be sensible & slightly flexible here.......in this case the girl is quite convincing with a very on-topic theme. It also removes a lot of the controversy surrounding underage actresses portraying scenes of a sexual nature.........or would you rather every on-topic movie ends up like Hounddog?
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