Palindromes (2004)
Average Rating: 5.6/10
Critic Reviews: 36
Fresh: 16 | Rotten: 20
Unique but cold.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 8,755
My Rating
Movie Info
Palindromes opens with the dedication, "In loving memory of Dawn Wiener," a reference to the lead character in writer/director Todd Solondz' early feature, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Aviva has just attended Dawn's funeral. Dismayed by her older cousin's untimely death, Aviva asks her mother (Ellen Barkin) for assurance that she won't grow up to be like Dawn. Aviva only dreams of one thing -- having babies. Lots and lots of babies. As a teen, while Aviva has no interest in sex, she eagerly loses
Cast
-
Ellen Barkin
Joyce -
Stephen Adly Guirgis
Joe/Bob/Earl -
Jennifer Jason Leigh
Aviva -
Emani Sledge
Aviva -
Valerie Shusterov
Aviva -
Hannah Freiman
Aviva -
Rachel Corr
Aviva -
Will Denton
Aviva -
Sharon Wilkins
Aviva -
Shayna Levine
Aviva -
-
Debra Monk
Mama Sunshine -
Matthew Faber
Mark Wiener -
Robert Agri
Judah -
John Gemberling
Judah -
-
Alexander Brickel
Peter Paul -
Walter Bobbie
Bo Sunshine -
Richard Riehle
Dr. Dan -
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All Critics (127) | Top Critics (40) | Fresh (49) | Rotten (68) | DVD (8)
Subversive by reputation, Solondz is an acquired taste on his best day, and he's just all over the place with this one. Unpleasantly so.
Top CriticThe movie's oppressive atmosphere of flatly rendered, all-consuming determinism leaves it sparkless, pointless and ultimately not very funny.
In its own peculiar way, it is a more compassionate and useful religious document than Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ.
Let the discomfort commence.
Palindromes" isn't a wise movie, or a particularly true movie, but it's an honest one and a singular experience.
Not much more than trickery and artifice, and not worth the death of dear, departed Dawn.
There's pointed fatalism and indictments of middle-class superiority, but Solondz, ever the outsider, never loses affection for his misfits or stoops to passing judgment on their motivations. Love or hate him, he's vital.
"Palindromes" is a sloppy and muddy film that uses the shock value of seeing adult men humping numerous underage girls as its recurring visual device inscrutably linked to an unclear abortion issue theme.
A bizarre but brilliant headscratcher!
Certainly a unique vision for a filmmaker, this is not a flick for everyone. Stick with it, however, and you just may thoroughly enjoy what is at the heart an incredibly sweet tale.
The director's latest trek into the lunatic void, of what can best be described as the cinematic version of clinical depression.
The director's latest trek into the lunatic void, of what can best be described as the cinematic version of clinical depression.
...captures the shifting identity of adolescence, where one day you feel like a glamorous adult, others like a scared child, others still like a grotesquely overweight misfit.
potentially decent film buried under the thick layers of misanthropy
OK, I'll admit it: I've next to no idea what to make of Palindromes, and you know what? I doubt the filmmaker would have a problem with me owning up to it.
Most demanding.
Audience Reviews for Palindromes
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May 25, 2011:
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Foreign Titles
- Palindrome (DE)
Abortion is another big theme. The main character is forced by her parents to get an abortion early in the film, and she later becomes stridently (even maniacally) pro-life. Again, I was not seeing what drove Solondz to include this hot-button social issue in his screenplay.
The central gimmick in the production is that five or six different actresses play the girl, including two instances where adults play her. One of these adults is Jennifer Jason Leigh in a brief sequence. I didn't find that this technique revealed anything that significant, but I appreciate Solondz' willingness to experiment with form.
The biggest problem is that the film never takes any of its interests seriously. The adventures that the runaway girl has are explored in only a very circumspect and superficial way. Most of the actresses portray her as highly lethargic, and I started to feel as phlegmatic as her while watching the film. Solondz likes to look at the dark underbelly of mainstream suburban culture, but he does not explore it with much gusto or insight. He just kind of glances at it. This makes his films rather slight.
A palindrome, incidentally, is a word that is spelled the same backwards and forwards, like Aviva, the name of the main character. Nothing in the film indicates why Solondz finds this so intriguing as to name the film as he did. And if he told me, I bet I'd find it only mildly interesting.