TowelheadDirected by: Marc Abraham Cast: Summer Bishil, Maria Bello, Aaron Eckhart, Peter Macdissi Time: 1 hr 56 mins Rating: R

Plot: A tale a troubled Arab girl who forges through the tumultuous tweens amidst amplified adversity. Along with reaching her sexual awakening, young Jasira learns the yings and yangs of bigotry and racism without much help from her anti-role model parents.

Who’s It For? This is film based on the novel written by Alicia Erian. It’s interesting to see how successful books are morphed into feature films. Also, anyone interested in witnessing what could be the most provocative coming age story about a thirteen-year-old girl. Yes, I’ve seen Thirteen.

Expectations: Those of you expecting the rumored controversy this film with initiate should ready yourself. It’s difficult to fully assert how far this film goes with the material. Far past previously set standards for what’s expectable, especially considering the subject matter related films have dealt with. There will be a few scenes where it’s guaranteed you will be pushed to cover your eyes.

SCORECARD (1-10)

Actors: Summer Bishil, as Jasira Maroun: The newcomer displays a jarring level of chops as the troubled young star. Her ability to mesh a radiant innocence with an ill-minded will to find pleasure is impressive. As much as she wins us over with her child-like smile, she makes it difficult to root for her when she keeps finding ways to make us cringe with her character’s misguided decision making. If her performance in this role is any early indication, Ms. Bishil is a star in the making. Score: 8

Maria Bello as Gail Monahan: As much as she’s impressed in better-written roles, Bello more or less phones this one in. Despite a few touching moments between herself and Bishil, it’s difficult to find any aspect of her character that makes her performance memorable. Gail becomes a two-sided character with an all-or-nothing delivery that falls flat despite making several volumous attempts at revealing any meaning behind her angst. Score: 4

Aaron Eckhart as Travis Vuoso: A sharp departure from Harvey Dent’s White Knight, Eckhart is alarmingly believable as a closet-pedophile neighbor whose crush on the underage girl next door makes us cringe, and yet unable to look away. His and Bishil’s onscreen relationship is something of an oxymoron for this reason: We hate to see them develop one, but the film largely relies on the tension created between them. I’m just glad he’s not a method actor. He’s so convincingly shady you can’t help but try and shake off the Goosebumps his character brings upon. Score: 7

Peter Macdissi as Rifat Maroun: Though his job in the film is to provide a lot of the comic relief, his performance is far from a Middle-Eastern stereotype. Rather, Maroun portrays Jasira’s ruthless father with a hint of irony that almost makes his fluctuating behavior forgivable. Score: 8

Talking: A fun dichotomy of a script that turns the knobs between serious and lighthearted more effectively than most films could given the tense assortment of issues brought upon in this one. Jasira has a difficult time learning to balance the conversations she finds herself in, considering the context. An absurdly eccentric blend of talking partners often throws her for a loop, but the youthful gullibility she has when the film open is quickly brushed aside as the troubled teen finds the subtext buried within each of her onscreen adversaries. Score: 8

Sights & Sounds: The dry, stagnant early 90s are captured with a superb allotment of objectivity. Many conversations take place with archived news footage providing the background soundtrack. Jasira’s world appears to be a nice suburban safe haven, the perfect disguise for a world much darker than the Texas neighborhood could ever insinuate. Score: 9

OVERALL A troubling tale of the tumultuous early teens, Towelhead reveals the story of a curious young women whose blossoming sexuality becomes the catalyst in a series of rude awakenings that don’t ordinarily accompany an awkward stroll through adolescence. This film is a success largely based on young Breslin’s all-too-impressive portrayal of a young girl on the verge of womanhood and the absolutely vial things that can happen to a young person who has to address all these changes completely on her own. The cadence of the movie relies on her interactions with a very different line up of people, all trying their best to interpret her behavior—something she is initially too young to fully comprehend herself. Cleverly timed humor coats the darker moments of the film aptly, helping make this picture an impressive array of ebbs and flows that ultimately leaves its audience happy it braved its choppy waters.

Score: 7/10