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34
10,000 B.C. Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Palindromes
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MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring Ellen Barkin, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Stephen Adly-Guirgis, Valerie Shusterov, Rachel Corr, Richard Masur, Debra Monk, and Sharon Wilkins
Described as a "fable of innocence," his latest film allows Todd Solondz to savor the profound flavor of moral complexity. (Wellspring Media)
| GENRE(S): | Adventure | Comedy | Drama |
| WRITTEN BY: | Todd Solondz |
| DIRECTED BY: | Todd Solondz |
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 13, 2005 Theatrical: April 13, 2005 |
| RUNNING TIME: | 100 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: | USA |
Nominated, Golden Lion, 2004 Venice Film Festival
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The average user rating for this movie is 6.9 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
M. Daye gave it a10:
Fiendishly bittersweet, Palindromes will have you both laughing at and feeling for the most sensitive of characters.
Sharon S. gave it a2:
Although there was much thought on a young girl wanting to have a baby at the age of 13- the young girl Aviva obviously was not taught any consequences to her choices which in reality there is. Secondly, at the age of 13 most girls do discuss the issue of wants and needs with her peers before acting out. So I found the movie offered no advice, and encouraged the choice of being premiscuous. A good parallel would have been the movie called monster. The choices one makes leads to the same ending-trouble. The movie confuses love with the act of sex in seeking acceptance of one self.
Chad S. gave it a9:
The Sunshine Singers, the singing group led by Mama Sunshine (is Solondz making fun of Mia Farrow?), perform Contemporary Christian songs which made me laugh, but it's not them; it's the genre itself. "Normal" people would sound and look like doofuses performing the Sunshine Singers' repetoire. Solondz is often accused of hating his characters, but in this instance, his hatred is saved for the moviegoers who have pasts that correspond to these "flawed" children. But here is the kicker. The people who look after these throwaway children are insane. What is Solondz inferring? "Palindromes", in typical Todd Solondz fashion, loves nobody. Apart from being merciless on both sides of the abortion front, this film takes a barb at colorblind casting. Here again, we revel in Solondz's moral complexity. Sharon Wilkins (Mama Sunshine Aviva) is simultaneously ridiculous and convincing playing white jailbait. Wilkins is no more jarring than say, Denzel Washington as Julius Caesar on Broadway. "Palindromes" doesn't want to entertain, it wants to provoke, and since most films don't do the former, judge this film on its ability to do the latter.
Tod K gave it a9:
This is bold, brilliant, in-your-face post modern film about family, love, violence, compassion, selfishness and loss. It is (intentionally) hard to watch and easy to hate on many levels. Many people will hate it on a content level and others on a story-telling level but when is bold, harsh statement ever well received? It is a much smaller film than Happiness and more focused than Dollhouse. Like all of his movies you will laugh and hate yourself for it but the end of film when all the scattered pieces come together and you realize that this is the proverbial with a story with 1,000 faces on it I found it chilling.
Benjamin Bunny gave it a1:
Happiness was a masterpiece because it depicted the lowest form of human life with a small amount of compassion and plenty of cartoonish (but dark) humor. The characters in this film are even more vile, putrid and unsympathetic, and save for a couple scenes involving dance sequences to Christian pop, nothing is remotely funny--the premise is just too inhuman and disturbing to do anything but evoke disgust. A terrible, heartless and sickening film.
Conscious Entity gave it a0:
Solondz is a cynic who believes that life is absurd. To support such a view, he must undermine all positive conceptions of morality. In Palindromes, Solondz accomplishes this by depicting persons on *both* sides of one of the great moral debates of our day (pro-choice vs. pro-life), as variously insensiitive, toxic, murderous and above all deluded. Thus, by means of a generalization that the director clearly intends, the entire film amounts to an extended ad hominem argument against any and all conceptions of moral purpose. It is easy to see why this director has so often been accused of misanthropy, but to me it seems that his attacks upon humanity are just a means to his more fundamental purpose of declaring life itself to be without meaning.
Damon C gave it a6:
The would-be-libertarian and wannabe-misogynist that I am, I wanted to like the movie - no, I wanted to love the movie, as much as I loved Happiness and Dollhouse. But no, I didn't like it that much, and this is why. First, while I'm intrigued by the multiple portrayals of Aviva, I left asking myself: why? What did it add to the film beyond the gimmick? Was it to suggest that having babies is the universal desire of ALL women? I'm not sure, and the film certainly doesn't answer that question. Secondly, was there anything else more to palindromes than the spelling of Aviva (and perhaps Otto)? Can the movie be viewed back to front to arrive at the same result? Perhaps, but how would one ever know? So I walked out of the theater with all these vexing questions, and after thinking about them for a few days, I still had nothing to show. Ultimately, Palindromes has the usual mordant humor and way-out-there situations, but it casts light on human condition as much as a baby doll with a bottle stuck up her ass would, or on second thought, a little less.

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