Palindromes (2004)

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It might be beneficial to read the whole wiki plot summary before watching Palindromes for two reasons; some vital plot points which i have no idea how anyone even figured out and so you can not be distracted so much by the shock tactics which even involve the recent horror movie convention of the post-production enhanced impossibly loud bang to make you jump. If you've been wondering about the writer/director's intent with his previous films there's nothing here to clarify anything and a few of the expected "oh my god why would you want to film that" moments. It's still tempting to write it all off as shock value or nihilism but there's still an anthropological inquisitiveness fueling it however hard that may be to reconcile with how unexplored the characters motives remain in spite of their extreme actions. Maybe that's the intent, to have characters act extreme with little or no explanation and yet get a sympathetic response from an audience. The Dr Dan song was pretty awesome, like something out of Tim And Eric Awesome Show Great Job. I remain agnostic on the question of wtf is Todd Solondz's problem but as long as he keeps producing cultural artifacts like this one i'll keep asking. June 26, 2008

saturated in happiness

THE DIRECTOR IS A GENIUS ,THE PERFORMANCES ARE UNIVERSALLY BRILLIANT ,THE SCRIPT HAS BEEN WORKED AND PERFECTED LIKE A FRAGILE PIECE OF MURANO GLASS OR THE CUTTING BLADE OF A FINE STILETTO I ONLY WISH MR SOLONDZ KNEW I WAS ALIVE SO HE COULD HEAR MY DELIGHT EACH TIME I WATCH ONE OF HIS FILMS. May 20, 2008

Very bad, don't bother

I can't tell you how many times I hit the remote to stop this stinker, but, being a fair type person, I said, well I'll wait and see if it gets better or even has a remote point about something, or anything relevant. But it didn't. You want to waste 2 hrs. of your life you won't get back, try this and hold your nose. April 28, 2008

See it with friends...

and take time to talk about it. That is once you get your jaw up from off your chest where it dropped early on during this film. Love it, hate it, but you won't stop thinking about it nor forget it. Palindromes will drag you back and forth through the landscape of American values (and contrary to the title, it's not the same on every trip with EveryGirl).

This movie is bizarre! I highly recommend it. March 22, 2008

As Provoking as it is Disturbing

Todd Solondz (Happiness, Storytelling) is one of the most unique filmmakers of the last few decades and for my money, one of the most creative as well. He places American suburbia in the ugliest frame possible but manages to find some very dark humor within all the twisted sadness he portrays. He takes people we normally don't want to know and examines them intimately enough that we must chose wether we like them or hate them more than we could ever imagine. His latest film was 2004's Palindromes, and it is no exception to his style. Solondz does more of the same but it almost seems that with Palindromes he wanted to explore his themes and style with even more depth. Some viewers may think this means Palindromes is likely to be more disturbing, but really it is his style and his unrestrained creative madness that is more on display than the kind of content within his films that often justify his troubling reputation. Although, like Happiness, Solondz explores child molestation and sexual deviance further than anyone, and many will not want to join him on this ride.

Aviva (played by 8 different actors, including Jennifer Jason Leigh) is a thirteen year old girl that is profoundly sad and who has only one motivation in her life. She wishes to have a child so she may be loved by someone for the rest of her life. She decides that in order to have a child she will have sex with an unsavory family friend named Judah. Aviva's mother (Ellen Barkin) is devastated to find that Aviva is pregnant and orders her to get an abortion. The doctor informs Aviva's parents that she is no longer capable of having children after the procedure, but her parents never actually inform Aviva of this complication. She soon runs away from home to continue her quest to have a child. She has sex with a pedofile truck driver who then abandons her. Aviva's travels then bring her to a Christian fundamentalist group who cares for misfits kids without a home. The head of this group is also involved in organizing the assassinations of doctors at abortion clinics, and one of his associates is the same pedofile truck driver who Aviva had relations with earlier in the film. She is of course drawn to him again. The truck driver, whose name is eventually revealed to be Bob, despite his constant need to use aliases and try to change what he is and what he is perceived as, is assigned to kill the doctor who completed Aviva's procedure. Aviva goes with him and Bob accidently murders the doctor's young daughter in addition to killing the doctor. He feels terrible for this and expresses how stupid it was for him to think that actions like that could change what he is. By the film's end Aviva reunites with Judah, who now calls him self Otto. She has sex with him again, completely oblivious to the fact that she cannot have a child.

There are a few different reasons I think Solondz decided to use seven actresses and one young actor to portray Aviva. For one, the obvious stand against convention is a Solondz trademark. The diversity of the group that plays Aviva is also wide and perhaps more provoking for that alone. So each actor was probably cast without regard for visuals and more for their performance in their particular scenes. The primary reason I think Solondz did this though was to show that no matter what you look like on the outside you can't change what you are. Aviva will always be Aviva no matter what she looks like on the surface. Even if you spell her name backwards she will always be Aviva and Aviva will always want a child to call her mom. January 30, 2008

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