Movie diary: I was 16, going on 17... she's 13?!
Sa3:05 Towelhead, Warner Theatre (Morgantown)
Ed. note: Yes, the movie title is a racial slur against Middle Easterners. However, that is dealt with during the course of the movie.
This coming-of-age movie, taking place around the time of Gulf War I, left me feeling icky and slightly overwhelmed with lots of pieces joined into a socio-cultural puzzle.
Follow along, will ya?
(1)The movie opens with a 13YO girl's mother's boyfriend shaving her bikini line.
(2)She is then sent to Houston to live with her Lebanese father, a NASA engineer, who retains his strict cultural beliefs and maintains a distant relationship with her.
(3)She piques first her own sexual curiosity, and then that of her reservist neighbor (her babysitting charge's father).
(4)Her father doesn't like her school-age boyfriend because he's black.
(5)The neighbors wrongly suspect him of being some kind of pro-Iraqi sleeper agent. (Did I mention he's Lebanese?)
But somehow, it all seems to mix in. While the plot could easily have existed without the Gulf War in the background, it does heighten the tension between the neighbors and the father.
And after watching the movie, you'll never look at the packages in your freezer the same way again. Trust me.
Ed. note: Yes, the movie title is a racial slur against Middle Easterners. However, that is dealt with during the course of the movie.
This coming-of-age movie, taking place around the time of Gulf War I, left me feeling icky and slightly overwhelmed with lots of pieces joined into a socio-cultural puzzle.
Follow along, will ya?
(1)The movie opens with a 13YO girl's mother's boyfriend shaving her bikini line.
(2)She is then sent to Houston to live with her Lebanese father, a NASA engineer, who retains his strict cultural beliefs and maintains a distant relationship with her.
(3)She piques first her own sexual curiosity, and then that of her reservist neighbor (her babysitting charge's father).
(4)Her father doesn't like her school-age boyfriend because he's black.
(5)The neighbors wrongly suspect him of being some kind of pro-Iraqi sleeper agent. (Did I mention he's Lebanese?)
But somehow, it all seems to mix in. While the plot could easily have existed without the Gulf War in the background, it does heighten the tension between the neighbors and the father.
And after watching the movie, you'll never look at the packages in your freezer the same way again. Trust me.