PAIR-UP SPECIAL: COEN BROTHERS, DE NIRO AND PACINO, AND A-LIST WOMEN

By Sarah Sluis

After two weeks of nothing, Hollywood has several options this week to bring viewers back to the theatres.

Righteous Kill
The much-hyped pairing of Al Pacino and Robert DeNiro arrives onscreen with Righteous Kill, written by Russell Gewirtz of 2006's Inside Man.  Early reports rank the script as a lesser effort by the writer, exacerbated by director Jon Avnet's poor control over the picture.  Unfortunate, given that Inside Man had well-developed twists and was a bit of surprise coming from director Spike Lee.  Given the draw of the star power, however, this film has a strong chance of coming in at number one.

Burn After Reading
The Coen Brothers' Burn After Reading, featuring Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand as personal trainers-turned-blackmailers, has received "not as good as No Country for Old Men" reviews from virtually every critic, but Focus Features' marketing campaign has heavily emphasized the Coens' No Country for Old Men laurels in their ads.  With George Clooney added to the headline, this film will do brisk business.
Towelhead
Towelhead, mired in controversy I covered earlier, releases to New York and Los Angeles this week, and will undoubtedly be buoyed by the buzz surrounding the film, as well as the sizeable marketing budget.
Tyler Perry's The Family that Preys
Not being terribly familiar with Tyler Perry beyond his "Madea" character, I was surprised to learn that The Family that Preys does not feature a man in drag but instead takes a dramatic-comedic tone to depict a story about two families connected by friendship, affairs, and hidden paternities.  Of note, this film features a mix of white and black actors, including the always entertaining Kathy Bates.  Whether this was included in the original script or a studio attempt to have Perry's films reach a wider audience, eyes will be watching to see if this movie will expand Perry's viewership beyond his loyal black audiences.
The Women
Promising a Sex and the City experience, ensemble film The Women releases today to mediocre reviews. The original film was based on a play by suffragette Clare Boothe Luce, and the 1939 George Cukor film in turn honored the feminist roots and preserved the satire.  What I loved about the original, besides the neat visual trick that never brings any men onscreen, was how the primary conflict, a woman being cheated on, becomes an opportunity for complex iterations of power�not disenfranchisement and weeping.  The women are in complete control over their domains, and their power spots are not golf courses and smoky mahogany clubs, but beauty salons, spas, and fashion shows.  Judging by the reviews, this message has softened in the remake.  Nevertheless, those seeking an echo of the original The Women or this summer's Sex and the City will probably come out sated.

Warner Bros., Erian, Ball refuse to throw in 'Towel'

By Sarah Sluis

One of the most surefire ways to encourage viewership is through censorship, and Towelhead is no exception.  Towelhead, scheduled for a September 12th NYC/LA release, received a ton of buzz after the Council on American-Islam relations (CAIR) asked Warner Bros. to remove the racial epithet and change the title back to its film festival moniker, Nothing is Private.  Refusing to budge, the original book's author, Alicia Erian, and director Alan Ball issued an eloquent statement defending their position.

Judging by the trailer and Film Journal and Variety's reviews, Towelhead appears to be a coming-of-age movie first and a movie about racism and identity second.  Alan Ball, artisan of the suburban dystopia (through his work on American Beauty and Six Feet Under), has been criticized for producing an uneven film, but the opportunity of hearing a story about an Arab-American in suburbia, far away from terrorist plots, piques my curiosity to the $12 New York City movie ticket level.

The film follows Jasira, who moves from New York City, where she lived with her white mother, to live with her strict Lebanese father in Texas. There, she must deal with her father's discomfort with her burgeoning sexuality, racism against her black boyfriend, and epithets from the community around her, which alternately calls her a "towelhead" or mistakes her for a Mexican immigrant.

Pare down the plot to a story of a mixed-race child raised by a white mother, and then thrown into another community where she must come to terms with how other people view her identity, and you have the story of Barack Obama.  The subject of race and identity is a compelling one, but superficially explored in Hollywood (didactic Crash and Tropic Thunder's "making fun of people who make fun of black/retarded people" come to mind).  With the upcoming and groundbreaking election, any story that engages with the subject of American race and identity, regardless of tone or flaws, will be on my to-see list.