The directorial debut of Alan Ball (writer of American Beauty and Six Feet Under), Towelhead wants you to know that IT IS NOT AFRAID TO MAKE YOU UNCOMFORTABLE. Starting with the slur of the title, the film—based on the 2005 novel by Alicia Erian—plays heavy-handed with ye olde taboos: Menses! Racism! Pubescent pubes! Neighborly gropin'! WAR!

And that isn't, of course, such a bad thing. In her early teens, Jasira (the effortlessly affecting Summer Bishil) is sent by her shitty white mom (Maria Bello) to live in a Texan suburb with her conservative Lebanese dad (Peter Macdissi). Adjusting to a new life and a new body (um, haaaay!), Jasira becomes obsessed with their racist, aggressive army reservist neighbor (Aaron Eckhart). And, unfortunately for her, vice versa.

What you will remember about Towelhead: The visceral discomfort of watching a 13-year-old girl follow her sexual awakening down all the wrong paths. The lack of euphemism. How funny and sharp Macdissi is. Eckhart's menacing, magnetic sexuality. Towelhead is absorbing—it holds your interest. But the parade of horrors that befall Jasira is relentless almost to the point of absurdity, and the poke-poke-poke-hey-did-you-notice-how-PROVOCATIVE-we-are attitude smacks of condescension.