Sara Vilkomerson’s Guide To This Week’s Movies: Lebanese Lolita

Not every filmmaker would choose to open his film with a man offering to shave the bikini line of his girlfriend’s 13-year-old daughter. But so it goes in Towelhead, which hardly pauses when it comes to squirm-squirm-keep-squirming moments. The movie was written and directed by Alan Ball, who penned the once shocking and now much maligned American Beauty (whether you like it is one of those new relationship deal breakers, much like the raining frogs scene in Magnolia). But for us, Mr. Ball will always have a special place in our heart thanks to (at least the first two seasons of) Six Feet Under. Towelhead certainly has things in common with the HBO show, and American Beauty, too: the suffocating feel of suburbia, where the freshly scrubbed neighbor is anything but clean; a willingness not just to go over the line, but then to stomp on it a few times more; pitch-black humor; and, happily, Peter Macdissi, who provided consistent comic relief on Six Feet Under playing Claire’s loony art teacher, Olivier Castro-Staal.

In Towelhead, based on the novel by Alicia Erian and set during the first Gulf War, Mr. Macdissi plays Rifat, the strict Lebanese father of Jasira, who—after the whole pubic-hair-shaving incident—is sent away by her mother (a terribly underused Maria Bello) to live with Rifat in suburban Houston. Jasira (Summer Bishil) is a beautiful girl who looks a lot older than her age and sort of oozes a misguided sexuality. As she hurtles headfirst into puberty (when she gets her period her father refuses to let her wear a tampon), she starts what can only be called a sexual awakening. She is forever rubbing her legs together in an altogether embarrassing manner, and sneaking looks at her neighbor Mr. Vuoso’s (Aaron Eckhart) dirty magazines while she’s babysitting for his 10-year-old son (who is the main user of the derogatory “towelhead”). Mr. Vuoso starts taking a more than friendly interest in Jasira, and in her own half-innocent way Jasira seeks out his attention, even though she’s not aware of what the consequences might be. Jasira also starts dating a young black student her father forbids her from seeing, and strikes up a friendship with another neighbor (Toni Collette) who is about to give birth.

In short, there’s a lot going on. Sometimes, just too much. The idea Mr. Ball is tackling—how young women can get so messed up in their heads about having sex and being sexually desirable—is a fascinating one. But at two hours, the pacing in Towelhead is too slow. Also, we’re still not sure what the message of the film is, and other details are just confusing. (Not the least of which: How come Toni Collette’s husband speaks Arabic?) Mr. Eckhart does a fantastic job hitting just the right note between totally creepy and almost sympathetic, while Mr. Macdissi is the only one who seems to see himself cast in a comedy. Ms. Bishil’s character in the end remains a mystery, though whether that’s intentional is just another question left unanswered.

Towelhead opens Friday at Angelika Film Center.

svilkomerson@observer.com