Synopsis
Brooklyn mother of two, Penelope, struggles to traverse the daily obstacle course that is motherhood with little help from her husband, Matt. As his flourishing creative career consumes all of his time, Penelope struggles to balance her artistic aspirations with her motherly responsibilities, stopping at nothing in a quest to find her artistic voice in this playful, honest, and at times, harsh look at modern-day motherhood and the difficulties families face everyday.

Program Note
Just like white-blond hair resembling tow, as signified by the title, the film’s heroine Penelope stands out with her appearance and
 behavior. Yet this is not the first time we meet her unique and peculiar charm. Previously, Shannon PLUMB had already presented
 some original costumes and acting, embracing both the absurd and the ordinary, in her short-form Super-8mm video art work. In
 Towheads, her first feature film, PLUMB casts herself as Penelope and uses humor and slapstick comedy, reminiscent of the silent
 films of Buster KEATON and Charlie CHAPLIN, as a basis for earning our sympathy for the way an eccentric mother of two children
 copes with her daily life and breaks away from it. While Penelope goes through a great deal of trouble raising her two young sons,
 aged four and seven respectively, her husband remains completely uninterested in housework or child-bearing and buries himself
 in his work as a theater director. Shannon PLUMB’s real-life husband, Derek CIANFRANCE, the director of Blue Valentine, plays
 the father but never shows his face. The film was shot in their Brooklyn home with their two children who turn their mother’s daily
 life upside down both in and out of the house. Penelope’s struggle as a mother to look after the household and the children means
 she has to suppress herself as an artist. Although this may appear to be an absurd slapstick, for the director going through that
 situation in real life, it is a battle she needs to face in order to maintain her identity. [LEE Angela]