Nothing Is Private

I was fortunate to view this movie in a cinema in the same weekend as I saw a stage performance of Moliere's "The Learned Ladies" and a DVD of "Memoirs of a Geisha". All three deal with the reaction of girls... Full review

With the exception of the ending, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. It flowed well and it kept my friend and I very interested. Mind, it is about a 13 year old girl going through puberty and exploring her sexuality, there is... Full review

Alan Ball steps on familiar yet virgin territory in more ways than one.An American suburb with the look and feel of a populated desert. American flags and neighboring spirits. Summer Bishil surfs uncannily the waves of her puberty. Innocence and awareness.... Full review

How Can You Find Yourself if No One Can See You? Plot: A young Arab-American girl struggles with her sexual obsession, a bigoted Army reservist and her strict father during the Gulf War. I got really, really, but I mean, really... Full review

The commercials for this film will make you think it's a coming of age/fish-out-water type of comedy. It's not. It's a dark and fairly disturbing portrayal of a young girl of mixed heritage who both receives and gives very mixed sexual... Full review

Alan Ball's TOWELHEAD is as dark, and biting as American BEAUTY, but with a different slant as a young girl begins to experience the reality of life growing up in the suburbs of America. The cast is superb, the young actor,... Full review

Just left the Sundance premier. They changed the title back to Towelhead, kind of a harsh turn-off while choosing a movie, but I guess that was the name of the semi- autobiographical novel. The author was present and looks well recovered... Full review

The screenplay was adapted by Ball from the novel Towelhead by Alicia Erian, and is set in Texas in 1991, during the first gulf war. It follows thirteen year old Jasira as she bounces between her abusive and uncaring mother and... Full review

This movie itself is astonishing in lots of ways.....Towelhead Is Shocking for More Than Just Its Title.... ... Full Review

Characters are often shot in unappealing closeups, their faces obscured as though being lit by flashlights, their dialogue stultifying in its simplicity and didacticism. I'm happy to report that Summer Bishil, who plays Jasira, is in fact 20, which reduces the ick factor ever so slightly. ... Full Review

As confronting as the movie is, I saw it as hopeful and a caution, but I admit I'm biased towards freedom of expression. The US critical reactions are predictable; audiences will have the same difficulties with the film ... Full Review

Macdissi finds the innate absurdity in the character, and keeps us from hating such a buffoon. Calling it a tough lesson to learn would be an understatement, but that's also what makes the ending such a letdown. ... Full Review

Macdissi finds the innate absurdity in the character, and keeps us from hating such a buffoon. Eckhart, who shares some of the most raw, uncomfortable moments with Bishil, is in a tough spot: His character is obviously a villain, yet he also has to show some glimmers of vulnerability to help us understand his twisted motivation. ... Full Review

Do i win something? I got to attend one of the first screenings of Towelhead hosted by Alan Ball in Atlanta. Both Summer and Aaron eckhart were ompressive to watch and just about everyone in the audience really liked the... ... Full Article

There was a bit of an uproar back in the fall of 2008 when the Toronto Film Festival hit Nothing Is Private got its theatrical release, for its title had been changed after its festival appearance. ... Full Article

The Christmas season is upon us, a time of year when morning zoo crews at radio stations all around the country dust off their copies of "Osama Got Run Over By A Reindeer" and maybe even try their hands at... ... Full Article

Starring Aaron Eckhart, Peter Macdissi, Toni Collette, Maria Bello and Summer Bishil. Directed by Alan Ball. 124 minutes. At AMC Yonge-Dundas. 14A It is certainly possible to make a transgressive movie about children in sexual jeopardy, and to do so... ... Full Article

The worst and most offensive movie of the year is called ? Towel Head? which was previously named "Nothing Is Private". Written and directed by Alan Ball, the man behind "American Beauty" makes a film that the general public will... ... Full Article

Jasira (Summer Bishil) can't get a break. Sent to live with her judgmental father (Peter Macdissi) after a misunderstanding with her mother (Maria Bello), the 13-year-old finds herself lonely and unhappy in suburbia. ... Full Article