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- 124 Minutes
- Warner Bros.
- Language English
- Country USA
- Rated:
- Format: 2.35:1
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- Directed by Alan Ball
- Written by Alan Ball, Alicia Erian
- Starring Aaron Eckhart, Maria Bello, Peter Macdissi, Summer Bishil, Toni Collette
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Set against the backdrop of the first Gulf War, Jasira, a 13 year-old Arab-American girl encounters various sexual situations, as she moves from living with her ill-tempered American mother to live with her strict Lebanese father in Houston, who is actually anti-Saddam, despite how he is perceived amongst his neighbors. Jasira's life becomes more tumultuous as she begins a sexual relationship with the racist father of the boy she baby-sits and an overly sexual African-American schoolmate. Her lack of knowledge of normality growing up in a dysfunctional family prevents her from understanding the abuse she is experiencing at first, until she slowly begins to grow up and realize what is occurring during a turbulent time in American society.
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Nominated: Best Female Lead (Bishil), 2009 Independent Spirit Awards
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Writer-director Alan Ball creates such excruciating tension that the film itself takes on a sexual pattern of buildup and release. -- Tasha Robinson, CHICAGO TRIBUNE
- More on Towelhead:
- Profile of writer/director Alan Ball


