Palindromes
For anyone who has seen WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and HAPPINESS you should have a partial idea what to expect from this little gem PALINDROMES. All directed by Todd Solondz, he has the remarkable ability to tackle subject matter that is about as dark as anything tackled anywhere in the world, and presenting it a way that is as equally challenging. In fact, such is his storytelling style that....
For anyone who has seen WELCOME TO THE DOLLHOUSE and HAPPINESS you should have a partial idea what to expect from this little gem PALINDROMES. All directed by Todd Solondz, he has the remarkable ability to tackle subject matter that is about as dark as anything tackled anywhere in the world, and presenting it a way that is as equally challenging. In fact, such is his storytelling style that virtually any time you find yourself laughing, you are asking yourself why you are and probably more importantly should you be. This is black humour about as black as it gets. This film tackles amongst other films abortion and paedophilia (again) with classic scenes littered throughout. One example of this conflict that Solondz manages to create in the viewer is amply demonstrated by one of the characters who has been accused of molesting kids, who is chatting to the main character at a party. He says to her that the rumours are not true and that he is not a paedophile, to which she looks at him and remarks rather disgustingly “I know you’re not, paedophiles love children”. For anyone who has seen HAPPINESS, this humour may seem rather tame, especially when we recall scenes such as the psychiatrist paedophile drugging his own family and his visiting young son’s friend before raping him, followed by the scene where the young son asks his dad to explain to him about sex. This is Todd Solondz territory and after the disappointing STORYTELLING, PALINDROMES is back to his former challenging excellence.
The story itself is pretty basic, it concerns a young girl Aviva, who gets pregnant and then after being forced to have an abortion runs away, only to end up at a Christian children’s home, where the males of the establishment are planning to kill the same abortion doctor who carried out Aviva’a abortion. However, this simplicity is then given a further complex story telling device, the fact that Aviva is played by about 6 different people, ranging from a skinny white girls to an obese black one and even to Jennifer Jason Leigh. In fact, as off putting as this may sound it actually doesn’t overly distract you from the film as it adds more depth to the narrative of the film.
This switching of the character reinforces a couple of issues. Firstly and maybe just coincidentally, as she changes each time our own prejudices influence the way we perceive what she is doing – based on the way she looks. Secondly and most relevant within the film, as we are reaching the conclusion of sorts, the narrative focuses on the fact that we cannot change our natures and no matter how hard we try when we grow up, eventually whatever we were like when we were a child will emerge again and take us over. By having a character that changes, and always being made aware that she is the same person, by the time the film starts to comment on this device we finally understand that even though Aviva has gone through many personal changes by the end of the film, she is still in fact the same young 5 year old child from the start of the film who just wants to have ‘lots of babies’. Although she has more life experience, her basic nature still remains.
Now that the films gimmick has been discussed, we are left with story and most importantly the scenes. I remember watching HAPPINESS in the cinema and never being so self conscious about laughing. So watching this on DVD will be somewhat of a different experience but the same situation arises. The dark comedy highlights here include the scene when Aviva gets pregnant, the mother played by Ellen Barkin trying to convince Aviva to get an abortion, the scene where the pro life nutters are plotting to kill the doctor, and a really twisted one at the Christian children’s home when a small kid takes Aviva to a dump site for hospital abortions, plastic bags included. Also, look out for the doll in the skip. Depending on whether you open yourself up to this film, maybe you will also find yourself laughing at this truly unique Writer- Director’s truly bizarre approach to drama.
As a writer as well, Solondz gives us more than we would usually get from an American film, we are given all sorts of sordid issues to think about, in combination with an even more bizarre cocktail of issues and themes. His style is usually to look for the most unnerving person in a scene to hold his camera on, whist the dialogue is being spoken. As well as ironic music floating around as well, this all adds up to a unique experience.
The film looks great and the sound comes in the Tartan’s traditional 3 standard forms, Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo, 5.1 surround and DTS 5.1. Unfortunately, this DVD has no extras and from memory I seem to remember reading that it was Solondz himself who wanted this. Although he must have his reasons it will always be a disappointment to this reviewer. However, like with most DVD’s it is the film that is the gem here.
I strongly recommend that anyone with a stomach for extremely black comedy checks this out. Don’t be put off by the gimmick of the main character switching around, it adds to the film. Although it may not handle the theme of abortion as sensitively as VERA DRAKE, in PALINDROMES, it serves as an extreme example of the fact that we cannot change our natures, and as the abortion issue is one that has such definates on each side of the argument, it has in interesting deployment in this film. This is the long awaited return to form of one of the more unique filmmakers in America, now he has 2 gems, an experiment and a masterpiece to his name, the masterpiece being HAPPINESS (as an aside, I recall that when it was compared to HAPPINESS, AMERICAN BEAUTY was called the Disney version of the American dream gone wrong). The lack of extras maybe a put off for some but really it is the film you want to see and with Solondz himself making sure it had no extras this will probably be the definitive edition, so best to get on board sooner rather than later. If you haven’t seen any of his films before you will be amazed at the issues he tackles and the way he films so called sensitive scenes. He is about as cutting edge as this kind of filmmaking gets, which is the reason why his films have such a large release. He is a leader, and even though he is not overly famous, he is the man who all the other filmmakers you have heard of will end up stealing ideas from and challenging. This is one film that you will not be forgetting in a hurry.
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