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Movie Review
Palindromes
By Lee Tistaert Published April 17, 2005
US Release: April 13, 2005
Directed by: Todd Solondz
Starring: Ellen Barkin , Jennifer Jason Leigh , Richard Masur
NR
Running Time: 100 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $553,368
Directed by: Todd Solondz
Starring: Ellen Barkin , Jennifer Jason Leigh , Richard Masur
NR
Running Time: 100 minutes
Domestic Box Office: $553,368
C
72 of 143
Solondz is too busy applying edgy, controversial details than worrying about any sense of emotional arc.
You know those vivid dreams you get when you haven?t slept much, and you can?t explain what?s going on in the dreams but you wake up feeling really screwed up? This film experience was exactly like that.
Palindromes is a new picture by Todd Solondz, who has a controversial reputation with films Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, and Storytelling. His films can be a bit twisted and they aren?t meant for mass audiences, and some people may even argue that his films aren?t meant for anyone. While his last two films had their share of fallacies (and I can understand why some people consider them terrible), I kind of liked them, but I was a bigger fan of the suburbia commentary, Welcome to the Dollhouse (B). Palindromes, however, is the kind of art house misfire that creeps you out in the wrong ways.
Todd Solondz recently claimed that he isn?t especially worried about his public image, but he admits that filmgoers judge him a certain way considering his really unusual, dark material. Anyone who watches one of his films usually has an urge to know who this guy is, and yet there is that voice telling you that you really don?t want to meet him in fear of what you?ll find. Palindromes increases that fear to the extent that you want to send him away to therapy.
The story is about eight people who are essentially the same person (the main character). The message is that we need to look beyond their different skin color or appearance and see that they?re all the same, psychologically damaged individuals. Aviva, a 12-year old girl whom the story is about, is obsessed with the idea of having a family and wants to get pregnant. She does get pregnant, and her parents force her to get an abortion. However, something goes wrong in the operation, and she is then unable to ever have children.
Fed up with her life, Aviva runs away and falls in love with a pedophile on the road who gave her a ride. But he deserts her after a one-night stand and Aviva is forced to go off on her own. Aviva then turns into an overweight young black woman (named Aviva) who is found in a forest by a friendly little boy (who has some type of handicap). There is something emotionally wrong with this version of Aviva, but the boy is very accepting and invites her into his life.
He lives with an isolated Christian family, but this is not a ?normal? family. The household consists of various kids who have been taken in after similar circumstances as Aviva?s sighting in the forest; they?re all handicapped in some way (blind albino, mental retardation, etc.), and are cared for by a lady named Mama Sunshine who loves any of God?s creations. The film uses that layout (with Aviva turning into someone else) various times with six additional people.
To say that the film has an unusual framework is an understatement. But unusual stories can be effective if there?s material that the viewer can relate to. The problem with Palindromes is that most of the characters are mere caricatures, and for such a personal drama we need someone to attach to emotionally, and root for, if not simply study. Most of the characters are social misfits (presumably different variations of Solondz) who aren?t understood by the norm but find a home amongst people who accept differences. Their scenes are too short to make an impact and the material doesn?t allow them to associate with the audience; there is a big void. Solondz is too busy applying edgy, controversial details than worrying about any sense of emotional arc.
The groundwork for these characters encompasses the fear that some kids will never grow up, or that something will happen that traumatizes their lives forever. There is even a thematic pose that people just do not change in life; if you are depressed when you are young, you will always be depressed whichever way you look at it. When a theme like that is preached in a monologue as it is here, it?s almost impossible not to look at the talent who wrote it on paper.
Even more so than with Solondz? previous films, Palindromes makes you worry about him. The film feels like a two-hour therapy session in which every twisted thing he is thinking about unfolds in scenes, and ?someone? has to look at it and make ?some? sort of sense of it. Unfortunately, there is no psychiatrist to help guide us to the meaning behind those thoughts, or to help us figure out how these people can change ? we just learn that life really does suck.
If there?s one thing Solondz really achieved with this film, it was making me feel deeply uncomfortable. I was wide-eyed and bewildered, and was trying to make sense of it all and was struggling. That aspect periodically kept my attention, but I was also very bored considering the lack of focus ? and my boredom and the nature of the film collided, making me feel depressed. Maybe that was Solondz? goal, and halfway through this film I literally had an urge to walk out and hug a human being, so he succeeded in that department.
There is no question that depression is a part of life. But after we?ve experienced any type of depression we usually take in gratifying lessons about our life, and we move forward in a better mindset with what we learned. Like the meaning of the title, Palindromes claims that everything is the same forwards and backwards, inside and out, that there is no relief to be found in life and there are no gratifying lessons. That?s what this film has to say in two hours.
Palindromes is a new picture by Todd Solondz, who has a controversial reputation with films Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, and Storytelling. His films can be a bit twisted and they aren?t meant for mass audiences, and some people may even argue that his films aren?t meant for anyone. While his last two films had their share of fallacies (and I can understand why some people consider them terrible), I kind of liked them, but I was a bigger fan of the suburbia commentary, Welcome to the Dollhouse (B). Palindromes, however, is the kind of art house misfire that creeps you out in the wrong ways.
Todd Solondz recently claimed that he isn?t especially worried about his public image, but he admits that filmgoers judge him a certain way considering his really unusual, dark material. Anyone who watches one of his films usually has an urge to know who this guy is, and yet there is that voice telling you that you really don?t want to meet him in fear of what you?ll find. Palindromes increases that fear to the extent that you want to send him away to therapy.
The story is about eight people who are essentially the same person (the main character). The message is that we need to look beyond their different skin color or appearance and see that they?re all the same, psychologically damaged individuals. Aviva, a 12-year old girl whom the story is about, is obsessed with the idea of having a family and wants to get pregnant. She does get pregnant, and her parents force her to get an abortion. However, something goes wrong in the operation, and she is then unable to ever have children.
Fed up with her life, Aviva runs away and falls in love with a pedophile on the road who gave her a ride. But he deserts her after a one-night stand and Aviva is forced to go off on her own. Aviva then turns into an overweight young black woman (named Aviva) who is found in a forest by a friendly little boy (who has some type of handicap). There is something emotionally wrong with this version of Aviva, but the boy is very accepting and invites her into his life.
He lives with an isolated Christian family, but this is not a ?normal? family. The household consists of various kids who have been taken in after similar circumstances as Aviva?s sighting in the forest; they?re all handicapped in some way (blind albino, mental retardation, etc.), and are cared for by a lady named Mama Sunshine who loves any of God?s creations. The film uses that layout (with Aviva turning into someone else) various times with six additional people.
To say that the film has an unusual framework is an understatement. But unusual stories can be effective if there?s material that the viewer can relate to. The problem with Palindromes is that most of the characters are mere caricatures, and for such a personal drama we need someone to attach to emotionally, and root for, if not simply study. Most of the characters are social misfits (presumably different variations of Solondz) who aren?t understood by the norm but find a home amongst people who accept differences. Their scenes are too short to make an impact and the material doesn?t allow them to associate with the audience; there is a big void. Solondz is too busy applying edgy, controversial details than worrying about any sense of emotional arc.
The groundwork for these characters encompasses the fear that some kids will never grow up, or that something will happen that traumatizes their lives forever. There is even a thematic pose that people just do not change in life; if you are depressed when you are young, you will always be depressed whichever way you look at it. When a theme like that is preached in a monologue as it is here, it?s almost impossible not to look at the talent who wrote it on paper.
Even more so than with Solondz? previous films, Palindromes makes you worry about him. The film feels like a two-hour therapy session in which every twisted thing he is thinking about unfolds in scenes, and ?someone? has to look at it and make ?some? sort of sense of it. Unfortunately, there is no psychiatrist to help guide us to the meaning behind those thoughts, or to help us figure out how these people can change ? we just learn that life really does suck.
If there?s one thing Solondz really achieved with this film, it was making me feel deeply uncomfortable. I was wide-eyed and bewildered, and was trying to make sense of it all and was struggling. That aspect periodically kept my attention, but I was also very bored considering the lack of focus ? and my boredom and the nature of the film collided, making me feel depressed. Maybe that was Solondz? goal, and halfway through this film I literally had an urge to walk out and hug a human being, so he succeeded in that department.
There is no question that depression is a part of life. But after we?ve experienced any type of depression we usually take in gratifying lessons about our life, and we move forward in a better mindset with what we learned. Like the meaning of the title, Palindromes claims that everything is the same forwards and backwards, inside and out, that there is no relief to be found in life and there are no gratifying lessons. That?s what this film has to say in two hours.
Lee's Grade: C
Ranked #72 of 143 between Revenge of the Sith (#71) and Memoirs of a Geisha (#73) for 2005 movies.
Ranked #72 of 143 between Revenge of the Sith (#71) and Memoirs of a Geisha (#73) for 2005 movies.
Lee's Overall Grading: 3025 graded movies
| A | 0.4% | |
| B | 30.0% | |
| C | 61.7% | |
| D | 8.0% | |
| F | 0.0% |
