towelhead ( film )
looking for answers summer bishil and director alan ball on the set of ball' s forthcoming film' towelhead.'
peter macdissi and summer bishil in
towelhead ,
directed by alan ball .
alan ball' s towelhead is a confronting adult drama peppered with shocks and black humour .
looking for movie tickets? enter your location to see which movie theaters are playing towelhead near you .
“towelhead” is rated r (under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). it has scenes of sexual abuse of a young girl and clinical sexual talk .
the name of the movie
towelhead
has gotten criticism. so much so that the movie may be appearing under the title
nothing is private
.
just like in 1999, the reception has been mostly good. ball wrote and directed his second feature film, towelhead, which premiered at the toronto film festival in 2007. yet his international acclaim revamped when he returned to the platform he once loathed: network television. but the days of being mad as hell and not going to take it anymore were over .
little boy: the film' s premise of a child having faith sounds like a pseudo - sweet film about faith, which gives the impression of having a predictable plot and of being full of glurge .
so “towelhead” is transgressive without being effectively subversive, gutsy to no particular end. it simply lacks style, which counts for so much in this sort of thing .
towelhead drama ma 15 + 4 stars alan ball 116 australia 2014415 urltoken urltoken urltoken sydney morning herald 2008 - 10 - 09 towelhead paul byrnes entertainment film magpiefilmreview http: / / www. urltoken / ffximage / 2008 / 10 / 09 / tonicollettemain _ 081009105547597 _ wideweb _ _ 300x345. jpg 300 345 http: / / www. urltoken / ffximage / 2008 / 10 / 09 / tonicollette50 _ 081009105547900 _ narrowweb _ _ 50x50. jpg 50 50
the tomatometer score — based on the opinions of hundreds of film and television critics — is a trusted measurement of critical recommendation for millions of fans. it represents the percentage of professional critic reviews that are positive for a given film or television show .
stardust memories was one for woody allen fans, since the film seemed to caustically mock them for their blind worship of him. the film has been vindicated by history for a good portion of fans, but some still like to pretend it doesn' t exist .
after m. night shyamalan was attached to the film trilogy, he was
interviewed
by bryan konietzko and michael dante dimartino .
alan ball is the newbie, although that label can be misleading. towelhead is ball' s directorial debut, but he has a notable resume as a writer - his credits include the oscar - winning screenplay for american beauty. this film, like that one, is a dark satire, although towelhead isn' t as nihilistic or blistering. the movie focuses on issues of tolerance and race while challenging notions about stereotypes. it also asks a question about whether any act, no matter how apparently unselfish it may be, can truly be considered altruistic .
in its depiction of a hapless young woman as the flashpoint of a culture war, “towelhead” recalls the superior “citizen ruth, ” in which a young woman’s pregnancy rallies vociferous forces on both sides of the abortion battle .
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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 .
fans of the screenwriter and playwright will recognize familiar themes in
towelhead ,
especially the morbid sense of humor that ran wild in
six feet under
and the suburban prison that mr. ball skewered in
american beauty .
but if
towelhead ,
which is set in 1991 in the suburbs of austin, texas, seems dressed in the same attire as his previous work, it operates under an even denser code of morals. when kevin spacey' s character arrived at his moment of truth in
american beauty ,
the screenplay to which earned mr. ball an oscar, he pulled himself back from the brink of sexual temptation rather than bed his teenage daughter' s vulnerable friend. in
towelhead ,
the tempted male  this time played bravely by aaron eckhart  discards any sense of self - control. for many at sundance, this is where
towelhead
crosses the line .
eventually she tells her father and the neighbors about having sex with mr. vuoso, and he is arrested for statutory rape. the film also deals with the racial attitudes of the people in jasira' s life: towards her and her father (she is called towelhead, although she does not even wear anything on her head), but also those of her father towards blacks .
nor do towelhead ’s similarities to american beauty end with its portrayal of a malignant, conflicted military man. this movie, too, has opinions to offer on the suburbs (bad), teen sex (good), and grown men lusting after ungrown girls (bad, but understandable). in american beauty such dubious lessons were largely submerged beneath textured characterization and cinematic technique; in towelhead, by contrast, they bob eagerly on the surface, impossible to ignore .
alan ball needs to either 1) die or 2) stick to tv. there is so much wrong with towelhead, i don' t know where to start. first off, mr. ball probably wrote this when he was 14 - there' s no way a grown man could have written this. secondly, there' s no nudity in a film filled with sex. dude, if you' re going to make a film about underage sex, go all the way. shame on you alan ball. shame on you .
the ballad of narayama
is a japanese film of great beauty and elegant artifice, telling a story of startling cruelty. what a space it opens…
on january 8, 2007, paramount pictures and nickelodeon movies announced that they had signed m. night shyamalan to write, direct and produce a trilogy of live - action films based on the series; the first of these films was to be a faithful adaptation of the main characters' adventures in book one. the film was in a dispute with james cameron' s film avatar regarding title ownership, which resulted in the film being titled the last airbender .
the movie, faithfully adapted from alicia erian’s novel, is the first film directed by alan ball, the creator of “six feet under” (and of the new vampire series “true blood”), and screenwriter of “american beauty. ” set during the first gulf war, in a spanking - new, upscale housing development on the outskirts of houston, “towelhead” is a crude but scathing portrait of suburban life .
this film was a suprise to me. i thought it was a very dicey subject to put on film but done in such a mature intelligent way. the only criticism i have was the potrayal of the girls father. i didnt fully buy that characterization but i was riveted from beggining to end and emotionally moved me .
the killing of john lennon is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin - a film about how some asshole set out to kill john lennon. technique - wise, it' s not a bad film, and contrary to what some critics claim, it doesn' t make lennon' s assassin look any more sympathetic — if anything, he looks worse, because the film portrays him as a bigot, a bully, and a shitty husband. considering that many fans of lennon want the assassin to fade into obscurity and actively try not to even mention the assassin by name, why would they want to watch a film about him ?
micheal fleming. shyamalan cast floats on' air';' slumdog' star dev patel joins paramount film. . variety. retrieved on february 1, 2009 .
the sexualisation of children is a fraught subject at any time, often regardless of intent. there' s no question in my mind that towelhead is a denunciation of the way american society encourages the sexualisation of children (and infantilisation of adults) - but the film hasn' t much chance of being seen as that, because it dares to depict, which makes it easy to claim it takes part in that process .
. a down - on - his - luck porn star is promised a large amount of money to appear in a high - concept
art film .
the movie turns out to be a snuff film, and he is forced to participate in a series of increasingly shocking, violent, and horrific sex acts, capped off with
there is a lot in towelhead designed to disturb, such as travis' unchecked lust and jasira' s prolonged self - pleasuring sessions. rifat is also given a dark dimension when he objects to jasira' s attraction to a boy because he is black .
few may have paid attention during its theatrical run, but dvd should offer a whole new life to a smart, engaging film that genuinely has something worthwhile to say .
a film about a 16 - year - old illiterate obese girl having the baby resulting from her rape by her father. the baby has down' s syndrome, a
sex lives of the potato men, an obscure british film devoted to the sexual exploits of a group of potato delivery men. this would have been bad enough, but the main characters were made to look as grotesque as possible. a raunchy comedy about hideous people having sex? no thank you. it should come as little surprise that this film actually provoked public debate over whether the british film industry was in severe decline. it didn' t help that one million pounds of funding from the film came from the uk' s national lottery - needless to say, this was not the kind of
good cause
most normal people would expect lottery funding to be awarded to .
script is adapted from alicia erian’s novel “towelhead, ” about a 13 - year - old girl bounced between her american mother and lebanese father — neither a paragon of civility, emotional stability or common sense — and drenched in a toxic environment that encourages precocious sexual activity .
the kyoshi warriors were initially intended to be part of the movie, though were cut out due to the film' s 3d conversion, requiring a shorter run - time .
pamela mcclintock p; tatiana siegel. par team for airbender; duo to release shyamalan' s live - action film. . variety. retrieved on april 15, 2008 .
hence, as busy as the story of towelhead is, ball never loses focus that all the anguish and emotional strains that beset the three households is driven by adults, the implicit message being that it is only when adults neglect their primary responsibilities that the real trouble begins .
in love with the idea of becoming an actress since the age of five, bishil was 14 when she took her first acting class. nine months later, a manager and agency signed her to a contract. her first role was on a short - lived nickelodeon show, just for kicks, followed by several appearances in children' s shows before her break - through performance in towelhead. bob strauss, who writes for several los angeles newspapers, stated that bishil
is one of the finest natural film actresses to emerge in years .
gary goldstein of the los angeles times, in a september 12 review of the movie towelhead, stated that
newcomer summer bishil turns in a gutsy, quietly riveting performance as jasira .
with the 2015 film version of jem and the holograms, universal pictures managed to make a film that appealed to no - one. somebody thought it would be a good idea to take a cult' 80s cartoon with a devoted fanbase and reboot it with many drastic changes and clichés. the fanbase was alienated, and younger audiences had no interest seeing a film based on a 1980s property they knew nothing about. the result was one of the worst opening weekends for a movie playing in wide release (2, 400 + theaters), and the worst ever for a film released by a major studio, even on a modest $ 5 million budget, and it was eventually pulled from theaters in just two weeks .
i mention that ball' s director sam mendes referred to the script as a
rites of passage film about imprisonment and escape from imprisonment .
ball agrees with the assessment .
summer bishil as azula: a firebending prodigy, daughter to ozai, and sister to zuko. bishil is an american - born actress. her mother is white american, and her father is a saudi citizen of indian ancestry. she rose to fame by starring in the movie towelhead .
towelhead
presents material that cries out to be handled with quiet empathy and hammers us with it. i understand what the film is trying to do, but not why it does it with such crude melodrama. the tone is all wrong for a story of child sexuality and had me cringing in my seat. it either has to be a tragedy or some kind of dark comedy like kubrick' s brilliant
lolita ,
but here it is simply awkward, embarrassing and painful .
the beaver definitely qualifies. the film is about a mentally - ill man who is able to communicate with a discarded beaver puppet. the concept itself is a hard sell, but the film stars mel gibson in the lead role and tries to portray him in a sympathetic context... at the time where gibson had made headlines for controversial tirades against his ex - wife as well as his infamous dui arrest. the film naturally flopped and was met with mixed reception among critics. nathan rabin of the av club goes into more detail for his
my year of flops
column .
this film covered some serious topics. it exposed prejudice and hatred. it also covered a young girls coming of age. overall there were many strong messages that we can all learn from. this would be a film i would have let my sons watch when they were at that awkward age in youth. it could surely teach some young kids a few important lessons about making the right choices .
though jasira is subjected to harsh and demeaning treatment in
towelhead ,
she is not portrayed as a defeated soul  nor, notably, as a victim. this was a central thesis in the source material, one that drew mr. ball to ms. erian' s novel. much as the characters and families in his previous work were on flawed quests for self - discovery, so is jasira coming to terms, not always ably, with her body and her sexuality. if she is anyone' s victim ,
towelhead
seems to say, she is her own. but she will recover .
“towelhead” may have been conceived as a dark comedy, but it is rarely funny. it pointedly presents rifat and travis as an unlikely two of a kind. if one is an overprotective father, and the other a predator, both see jasira as an inflammatory force of nature and tend to blame her for it .
based on the critically acclaimed novel by alicia erian and written for the screen and directed by alan ball (oscar winning writer of
american beauty
and creator of
six feet under
) ,
towelhead
stars aaron eckhart, toni collette, maria bello, peter macdissi and newcomer summer bishil as jasira .
the sexual encounters in this film are confronting, partly because jasira sometimes wants them to happen. that' s one of the film' s explosive ideas - it admits that teenagers think about sex and experiment, something we all know but rarely see depicted in films, because it' s just so dangerous and difficult. the us critical reactions are predictable; audiences will have the same difficulties with the film, partly because bishil is so good in the role. she looks 13, and it' s hard to watch a man put his hand down her jeans, even if the actress was 18 when it was filmed .
there' s always a lot going on in the suburbia of alan ball' s mind. in american beauty he took us into the forbidden lusts and frustrated lives swirling inside two white - picket households. in towelhead he does much the same thing, only this time within the walls of three neatly trimmed middle - american homes .
alan ball goes one for two in his feature helming debut, hitting a double with his provocative script but fouling out with his directing in “towelhead. ” maintaining consistent tone and performances in such a stylized “period piece” (a teenage girl’s period is just one of many touchy subjects broached here) is of the utmost importance, [ … ]
the story had incredible setup and payoff without seeming cheesy or didactic. the only reason why i don' t rate it higher is because the beginning of the film seemed so flimsy. it made me very nervous. with…
i feel like this film had so much potential but it somehow fell short. it touches some very important issues –sexual awakening and race being some of those– but some of the characters often feel a bit too much like stereotypes .
part of the reason pixels was off - putting to fans is the presence of adam sandler, whose films in the new tens have not exactly given him a positive reputation. others felt that the reliance on 80s games and / or references could also alienate both younger audiences (who won' t get said references) and older audiences (who are more likely to be familiar with the video game movies suck problem). the film' s gamer stereotyping doesn' t help. unsurprisingly, the film received a negative critical reception and bombed at the box office, and wound up being the last happy madison film distributed by sony, with their later films being distributed via netflix .
the stunt man was hated by the studio execs, who declared it to be completely unmarketable: a black comedy about a criminal who hides out as a stuntman on a film shoot, only to discover that the director is a lunatic who goes to quite disturbing lengths in the name of enforced method acting. it took two years to find a distributor, and peter o' toole famously quipped years later
the film wasn' t released, it escaped !
m. night shyamalan' s adaptation of avatar: the last airbender was originally a good half hour longer than the final released cut. this footage consists of more scenes from the series and more development for the characters. much of this can be seen in the early trailers, which feature several clips from the original edit. many of these scenes can also be seen in the manga released at the time of the film, as well as the film novelization .
in politics and the media, there’s always talk about people being too distracted to focus on the real issues affecting their lives, and for a split second after the towelhead great american beauty scream machine finally comes to a screeching halt, you get the sense that alan ball may have actually wanted to sincerely articulate legitimate political frustrations. but does the film’s allusive, almost intelligent end justify its abhorrent means? a kissing cousin of todd field and todd solondz, ball suffocates audiences with a guttersniping view or suburban life, a haggassian act of exploitation that misrepresents even the most fundamental modes of human interaction .
the film caligula is extremely notorious in part because of this. it tried to be simultaneously a dramatic historical epic and a low - brow sexploitation film, and failed at both. the drama was too ludicrous for the mainstream, and even if it wasn' t, they would have still been turned away by the depraved sexual acts. meanwhile, the porno crowd didn' t find the drama appealing, and the exploitation stuff wasn' t titillating enough for them .
the benedict cumberbatch film the fifth estate was a thriller about hacker / activist julian assange, who is still considered a controversial figure by many americans. add to it that the misaimed marketing made it look like the movie was trying to rewrite history and turn assange into some sort of kick - ass action hero, and it' s no wonder it turned out to be a box office bomb. it didn' t help that the film was based on a book written by a former associate of assange who has since become one of his most hated rivals. that assured that even those who vehemently support assange would refuse to go see it, on the assumption that the film would make him look bad .
the key player, however, is macdissi. responsive to the film’s comic intentions in a way the others are not, mustachioed thesp at times recalls peter sellers in his deliberately absurd crispness and assuredness, and he gets most of the film’s best laughs. but he also occasionally suffers from being on a comic limb when the others are not out there with him; ball just leaves him hanging, or doesn’t know how to get the others in synch with macdissi’s superior instincts .
originally the film opened with a near - exact recreation of the show' s introduction, with even more exposition of sozin' s comet and katara' s origins, this replacing the narration played over their trek in the theatrical cut .
based on the best - selling novel by alicia erian, towelhead is set during the patriotic fervour of the first gulf war. two self - consciously liberal parents - to - be (toni collette and matt letscher) live between the warring homes of attractive army reservist travis (aaron eckhart) and lebanese - born, flag - waving father rifat (peter macdissi) .
the last airbender is the film adaptation of the first season of avatar: the last airbender, the hit television series. it was the first part of a planned film trilogy adapting the three seasons of the original animated series. it was marketed and released in a joint effort between paramount pictures and nickelodeon movies. [ 4 ] it was produced, written, and directed by m. night shyamalan; others involved include producers sam mercer and frank marshall; executive producers kathleen kennedy, scott aversano, michael dante dimartino and bryan konietzko; and co - producer jose l. rodriguez. filming began in mid - march 2009, and the film itself was released on july 1, 2010, in both 2d and 3d screens .
production: a warner independent pictures / red envelope release of a this is that / indian paintbrush production. (international sales: celluloid dreams, paris .) produced by ted hope, steven rales, alan ball. executive producers, anne carey, scott rudin, peggy rajski. directed, written by alan ball, based on the novel
towelhead
by alicia erian .
made the film even less palatable, in the sense it was showing the audience things they' d heard a hundred times before. these problems were all addressed in the sequel, which wound up with both a better box - office return
rock its your decision was a fundamentalist christian propaganda film about the evils of rock and roll music. the film came out in the 1980' s, when the whole
rock music is evil
thing wasn' t taken seriously anymore. to say it didn' t appeal to many people is like saying that hurricane katrina was stronger than the average storm. a 1989 documentary,'' hell' s bells: the dangers of rock and roll ,
suffered from the same problem .
, the film itself followed the misadventures of an apparently mentally retarded man who made it his life' s mission to be as bizarre and offensive as possible (licking an open wound, wearing a bloody deer carcass as clothing, etc .) .
dick, a comedy set in the 1970' s about two teenage girls who develop a crush on richard nixon and end up becoming major figures in the watergate scandal. teens weren' t interested in a comedy based around 1970' s nostalgia while adults weren' t interested in the revisionist history concept (the film also depicts woodward and bernstein as a pair of morons) so the film died a quick death at the box office. however, it has become a cult classic over the years .
in this episode of the / filmcast, dave chen, devindra hardawar, and adam quigley discuss their thoughts on this year’s deeply unsatisfying oscar nominations, reflect on the intellectual bankruptcy of a tom and jerry movie, and vehemently debate the merits of alan ball’s towelhead. we’re joined by special guest and / filmcast favorite, actor stephen tobolowsky promoting the new blu - ray release of groundhog day .
because “towelhead” is set in pre - 9 / 11 america, almost a decade before the presidency of george w. bush, it is also a period piece. evangelical christianity has yet to be mobilized as a national political force, and islamic jihadism is only a murmur beyond the horizon. the cracks in the political landscape may have formed, but they have not opened into the chasms they are today .
displayed on the wall a couple of yards in front of ball' s demure oak desk are glistening rose petals framed in glass, the signature symbols representing the profound urges and fantasies of the film' s protagonist, lester burnham - - played by kevin spacey .
it is hardly news that teenage sexuality is a subject that drives many people crazy. but how crazy? in “towelhead, ” a provocative satire of a culture that is paradoxically hypersexual and puritanical, it makes everyone bonkers. the men tend to be glowering beasts unable to keep their hands to themselves, and the female characters are either angry, judgmental watchdogs or witchy lolitas not fully aware of their circean powers .
as mentioned in the description, an american crime. it' s a film about the real - life torture murder of an innocent teenage girl at the hands of her foster mother and various children. does that sound like a movie you' d want to watch ?
as the fire nation arrived, aang originally played a small game with the children of the southern water tribe, to keep them calm. this is in the final film to an extent, the children are still huddled around them when the fire nation guard bursts in .
, which caused many potential viewers to think the movie looked like a tired rehash (of course, given release dates if anything it would be the other way around, with the wachowskis even admitting that gits was an inspiration for them). another issue is that despite the film being marketed to them, many hardcore fans of the original films and series avoided it since the filmmakers took too many creative liberties with the license and arguably completely missed the point of the animated film it was based on. then there was the infamous controversy over having
the 1981 epic lion of the desert, starring anthony quinn. it is a powerful anti - colonialist film, but it is set in a conflict not many know about (1920s libya), with a hero not very famous outside of his country and enemies that aren' t often seen as
scary
enough in cinema. the death blow comes with the fact that it was commissioned and financed by muammar gaddafi, making potential viewers avoid the film for considering it propaganda. too bad, because according to most critics it is actually good .
. the movie wastes its premise in using this only as the background for a standard home - invasion thriller. the sequel is considered to be surprisingly improved by showing a wider scope of the purge. not helping either film is the massive focus the ads put on type 2
but there’s an off - putting moral smugness to the whole endeavor, an undercurrent of superiority to the rubes on display. for all his faults, jasira’s dad speaks lovely français, for instance, in sharp contrast to the hick french teacher at school, whose accent is straight out of paris, texas. even the movie’s evident enthusiasm for a 13 - year - old girl’s cross - racial sexual relationship seems largely a result of the moral calculus that, if bigots hate it, it must be good. late in the film, there’s a moment when this ethical lens shifts momentarily, when jasira’s repressive, bullying dad is proven right about something and the tolerant, liberal neighbor played by collette is proven wrong. but this revelation lasts mere seconds before it is washed away by a larger revelation, one that restores the movie’s easy ideological bromides. for a film that presents itself as a broadside against prejudice, towelhead spends an awful lot of time flattering the prejudices of its audience .
the hysteria all swirls around jasira (summer bishil), a juicy 13 - year - old lebanese - american girl with a healthy sexual curiosity, whose classmates taunt her with names like “towelhead” and “camel jockey. ” her father, rifat (peter macdissi), a divorced lebanese - born engineer who works for nasa but retains a straitlaced middle eastern code of values, frets about jasira’s budding sexuality and dream of becoming a centerfold .
shaun toub as iroh: a former general of the fire nation, brother to ozai, and uncle to zuko and azula. toub is an iranian - born television and film actor of persian jewish background with previous roles in films such as bad boys, iron man and crash .
in its preoccupations it might be described as “son of ‘american beauty. ’ ” if that first movie was a glum but polished man of the world, its offspring is a colicky baby who does a lot of screaming and yelling and banging of fists. instead of the lush, well - tended landscape of “american beauty, ” the sterile tract housing of “towelhead” is harshly ugly. the screenplay is talkier, and the acting more strident .
vulgar, a film financed by kevin smith and written and directed by his friend bryan johnson, recounted the story of a kind, but struggling, children' s party clown who is viciously raped by a father and his brain - dead sons. and it' s a comedy !
the progress of her journey involves bloody tampons and other details that could be relevant if handled with more sensitivity. she has sex with an african - american fellow student, who seems polite and nice but is experienced enough to know he is doing wrong. her dad forbids her to see him because he is black. meanwhile, mr. vuoso' s son calls her a towelhead, a camel jockey and worse. racism is everywhere here .
the misanthropy of “towelhead” is almost as uncontrolled as the male characters’ libidos. even though mr. ball tries to humanize the men by showing their capacity for an awkward tenderness, the movie’s underlying attitude is that all men are dogs, especially when faced with virginal teenage flesh. although the women are more sketchily drawn, with the exception of toni collette ’s portrayal of a concerned neighbor in the housing development, they are viewed as avaricious bimbos .
towelhead tells the coming - of - age story of a 13 - year - old lebanese american girl named jasira (summer bishil). she first lives with her mother in syracuse, new york, but when her mother' s live - in boyfriend helps jasira shave her pubic hair, the mother is concerned and sends jasira to live with her old - fashioned and domineering lebanese - christian father rifat (peter macdissi) in houston, texas .
the comic pitch and poisonous suburban family dynamics are reminiscent of the ball - scripted “american beauty, ” but there director sam mendes hit the desired tone, both visually and performance - wise. there are laughs in “towelhead, ” but far more of it is just weird to the point of being questionable; many scenes are too preposterous to be realistic, but if they don’t come off as funny, they just seem silly, if not noxious .
mr. ball can’t resist indulging in the kind of titillation that the movie deplores. although “towelhead” doesn’t actually show female - genital shaving, the insertion of tampons and the putting on of condoms, it goes right to the brink before the camera cuts away. it does, however, show menstrual blood, masturbation and discarded condoms. more to the point, its characters, no matter what their age, obsess about such things to the exclusion of everything else .
alan ball goes one for two in his feature helming debut, hitting a double with his provocative script but fouling out with his directing in “towelhead. ” maintaining consistent tone and performances in such a stylized “period piece” (a teenage girl’s period is just one of many touchy subjects broached here) is of the utmost importance, and the “six feet under” auteur doesn’t have the control to keep it from veering all over the place, to queasy and debilitating effect. ball’s rep and pic’s topical nature provide sufficient talking points to assure a certain profile in specialized release, but critical reaction will be very divided, and warner independent and red envelope, which picked up the film at toronto, will have to get behind it 200% to give it a real theatrical shot .
very dark for a comedy, (at least i assume it was intended to be a comedy). kind of in some ways like a todd solondz film. good but i think tied up a little too easily at the ends and the actual ending i didn' t like too much and couldn' t see why they chose to end the film there. (maybe it was meant to be hopeful, for me, i just found it off putting - not my favourite scene in any movie. lol). the young girl who plays jasira is very good as were the rest of the cast .
for anyone out there who thinks that alan ball' s only concern these days is the reception of his new hbo series
true blood ,
festival audiences and hollywood executives might let them in on the avalanche of controversy barreling toward the creator of
american beauty
and hbo' s
six feet under .
mr. ball' s directorial debut ,
towelhead ,
about a 13 - year - old lebanese - american girl who struggles with sexual obsession, an aggressive and bigoted neighbor, and her strict father, is set to arrive on new york screens next friday, months after polarizing the sundance film festival. not surprisingly, the title alone has angered, among other groups, the council on american - islamic relations. wait till they see what comes after the title .
wes cravens new nightmare was a self - aware supernatural slasher deconstruction that pre - dated scream 1996 by two years, and was released during a time when the horror genre was considered dead. it proved to be a little too ahead of its time, and had difficulty making money at the box office. the film did get good reviews though, but even today, while scream enjoys a reputation as a landmark horror film, new nightmare has to settle for a smaller cult following. wes craven even directed both films. he' s also attributed the success of the latter for focusing on horror fans rather than horror filmmakers .
in response to criticism of the film, shyamalan said in an interview with on demand entertainment in 2010 that the reason for the film not being well received is to be attributed to his more european sensibilities and the difference in pacing and culture, adding that the critics simply did not get him. [ 25 ] in a later interview with ign in 2015, he once again defended his movie by emphasizing that he made it for its original audience ,
nine and ten - year olds
, rather than
[ betraying ] the innocence of the piece
by
[ doing ] the transformers version and have megan fox .
[ 26 ] this explanation, however, was in turn attacked by mark harrison on den of geek, who threw out shyamalan' s
it was for kids
excuse, pointing out that while the original series was for children due to its bright, colorful, and funny nature ,
none of that is true of the film version
, and that the movie
went alarmingly and hilariously wrong on its way to the big screen .
despite the harsh criticism, harrison did praise shyamalan for standing by his film rather than
throwing a previous disappointment under the bus to sell his next project as better
. [ 27 ]
nicola peltz as katara: a fifteen - year - old [ nb 2 ] waterbender, the last one from her southern water tribe. peltz was highly praised at her audition by shyamalan and was fourteen years old during the shooting of this film. shyamalan said that he did not want to do the movie without her .
the ending was re - shot. originally, a messenger was to inform ozai of the fail at the northern water tribe. ozai sets the field around him ablaze to prove a point and the film cuts to black as he walks against the fire. this was replaced with azula' s epilogue in the theatrical edit .
funny games (either version) presents itself as a gorn film that deconstructs the genre and makes the viewer question why they watch gorn films to start with. the problem here is that gorn fans don' t appreciate being told they' re sick bastards by the films they' re watching (and it isn' t explicit enough for gore fans to get a thrill out of anyway), and non - fans aren' t going to watch it in the first place. this was freely acknowledged by director michael haneke, who once observed :
if you walked out of the film, you didn' t need to see it .
towelhead
is about the walls  the good ones and the bad ones  that divide these characters. jasira' s father insulates himself in his home and casts a critical eye toward all who surround him. travis stares longingly out the window at his young neighbor. they all populate the same cul - de - sac, but they seem worlds apart. it is only another neighbor, melina (toni collette), who recognizes the pressure being applied to jasira by the various men in her life .
in an effort to reintroduce ball to the industry, where ball was primarily known as a television writer, his agent implored him to pen a new film script. he pitched his agent three projects. two were homespun romantic comedies, but the third pitch - - which struck a chord with his agent - - was american beauty .
solo: it' s a film about star wars' greatest, most beloved smuggler and his origins... and he' s not played by harrison ford. also considering how his story ends on the force awakens, fans of the character are finding it hard to swallow the idea of another actor stepping into ford' s shoes. furthermore, more casual fans and general audiences were hesitant to see the movie because of the film' s troubled production and heavy emphasis on nostalgic fanservice. after two weeks on the cinemas even with reviews calling it an ok movie, it is still expected to have the lowest ticket sales of a movie in the franchise to date .
the dvd / blu - ray combo pack was released on november 16, 2010, from paramount home entertainment of the film. it boasts over two hours of in - depth, behind - the - scenes special features including a nine - part documentary on the making of the film, a featurette entitled
origins of the avatar
, which documents the creative transformation of the hit animated series to the big screen, picture - in - picture insights from the cast and crew that deconstruct some of the amazing action and visual effects sequences, deleted scenes, outtakes and more. a 3d blu - ray version was also released on the same day, but as a best buy exclusive release .
noah ringer as aang: the thirteen - year - old [ nb 2 ] avatar and the last surviving airbender. ringer is a texas taekwondo champion, who won the part in an open audition. he was cast after submitting a homemade dvd of himself practicing taekwondo and was 12 years old during the shooting of this film. this was his debut .
the film follows jasira, a young arab - american girl who is sent to live with her father in the suburbs of texas. at first, the two of them, new to the neighbourhood, get unfairly treated by a war veteran neighbour and his son (assuming that they' re supporting saddam hussein in the war), and jasira gets bullied at…
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alegria, the dramatic film inspired by the cirque du soleil show, is a fable that entwines the story of a street mime and a circus singer falling in love at first sight with that of unwanted children being forced to tend and sell flowers for a cruel taskmaster. aside from the obvious (namely, everyone hates mimes), it' s too dark and mature thematically for children — the story kicks off with the mime and his child friend both literally wanting to die, a supporting character is a lovelorn old alcoholic, etc. but how many teens or adults want to watch a movie about whimsical circus people helping to realize a world half full? the film only made it to theaters in canada and a few european countries .
lawn dogs. a 10 - year - old girl and a 21 - year - old man become close friends. it' s rated r. their relationship is mostly platonic, but there are strong hints that the girl has feelings for the man. not many people want to watch a movie about this, though those that have tended to consider the film to be excellent .
this was done for various reasons; one was a rather unfavorable early test screening, and the other was the film' s last minute 3d conversion. to minimize the effort required for the conversion, many scenes were re - shot to shorten the amount of time necessary for the story to be told. additionally, some of the original cinematography was replaced by more basic shots .
this is his first feature as director and it has been received with a certain amount of disdain and distrust by american critics. the chief accusation appears to be the film makes people uncomfortable, as if that' s a bad thing. it made me uncomfortable, too, as it' s supposed to. discomfort is not a critical term, any more than
depressing
.
yes, the sexual abuse of children is a tragedy. yes, there are adults who need to be educated, enlightened, warned, or thrashed and locked up. this is not the film to assist that process. the actors labor to be true to their characters and sincere in their work, and they succeed. the movie lets them down. it is more clueless than its heroine .
upon release, the film adaptation was near - universally panned by critics, fans of the original animated series, and even viewers of the film who were unfamiliar with the series, though it did receive some praise for its visual effects and design. despite the negative reviews, the movie was still commercially successful with a $ 319, 123, 021 intake worldwide. it was released on blu - ray and dvd on november 16th, 2010, which were advertised on nickelodeon before reruns of the series were shown between november 2010 and march 2011. by march, however, copies were no longer printed. it was then premiered on the nickelodeon channel where ratings were abysmal, and thus sold to a movie channel, where it aired on january 21, 2013, receiving minimal recognition. [ 5 ]
tideland is about a 10 - year - old girl who spends several weeks in an abandoned house with her father' s bloating corpse. to pass the time, she has increasingly bizarre daydreams about her barbie heads and befriends a mentally handicapped man, with whom she practices kissing. the dvd automatically plays an introduction by director terry gilliam, who admits that the viewer might very well hate the film .
( about how it' s better to run away from your problems than actually tell someone) did not sit well with most people, especially the critics that savaged the film, arguing that it sent the wrong message to kids who are actually in an abusive situation. the movie appealed to almost no one, as the subject matter was too depressing for kids, and it was too laughable and unrealistic for adults .
with a title like
dear white people
, you know a movie is going to be controversial. racism is a pretty touchy topic and the heavily politicized feel turned off many viewers, especially white viewers. word of god insists the film isn' t meant to be taken seriously and is more about personal identity, but the title and trailer doesn' t really give that impression to the casual white viewer .
pod people: because the movie is attempting to play (half - assedly) to the child demographic, they obviously can' t show any gory or creative sorts of deaths. no gore means the movie can' t appeal to fans of the kill em all horror genre. at the same time, because people do still drop like flies throughout the film' s runtime, it' s far too dark for kids .
errol morris' s debut documentary embodies this trope — gates of heaven is about a family - run pet cemetery faced with closure and the challenge of finding new resting places for its inhabitants. it' s a sweet, gentle film, but it' s not surprising to learn that werner herzog' s infamous shoe - eating venture was the result of a bet he lost with morris over whether it could get released at all !
with all of the above and much to come, the film intends to startle with its upfront taboo - breaking, its depiction of the sexual explorations of barely double - digit - aged characters, and of adult complicity in them. this alone will turn many viewers off. but it also means to make you laugh at the characters’ infinite foibles, as indicated by the arch tone, brittle line readings, outre situations and absurd juxtapositions.
towelhead ( alternatively titled nothing is private ) is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by alan ball and based on alicia erian 's novel of the same name . the film made its world premiere at the toronto international film festival on september 8 , 2007 under the name nothing is private . the film , like the book , touches on issues of sexual awakening , privacy , and race . 
towelhead (alternatively titled nothing is private) is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by alan ball and based on alicia erian's novel of the same name. the film made its world premiere at the toronto international film festival on september 8, 2007 under the name nothing is private. the film, like the book, touches on issues of sexual awakening, privacy, and race.
towelhead (alternatively titled nothing is private) is a 2007 comedy-drama film written and directed by alan ball and based on alicia erian's novel of the same name. the film made its world premiere at the toronto international film festival on september 8, 2007 under the name nothing is private. the film, like the book, touches on issues of sexual awakening, privacy, and race.