Review of Palindromes (2005) by Eric B — 12 Nov 2011

With "Palindromes," writer-director Todd Solondz's intentions are hard to fathom. His primary thrust seems to be an attack on anti-abortionists, but his targeted characters are so extreme (they plot to murder doctors who perform abortions) that it's grossly unfair to view them as symptomatic of the movement. But at the same time, he offers little reason to support his protagonist Aviva. (Her name is a palindrome, get it?) She's dim-witted, malleable and listless, and Solondz further distances us from her by having 10 (10!) different actresses portray her throughout the film. And sorry to say, the most prominent of them is deeply unappealing. He costumes most of them in an ugly, belly-baring top, besides. So, where do our sympathies lie? The only appealing character is a young boy named Peter Paul, but he eventually turns out to be just another fanatic. Bad vibes everywhere.

"Palindromes" is a sequel of sorts to Solondz's watershed "Welcome to the Dollhouse," and it opens with the funeral of that film's Dawn Wiener, who apparently killed herself after being impregnated by a date rapist. Cheery stuff -- thanks for the closure. We also discover she became overweight and acne-riddled, so that's a bonus. At least one character does recur from "Dollhouse": Dawn's brother Mark (Matthew Faber), now a peculiar man accused of child molestation.

Otherwise, we're introduced to Aviva, a 13-year-old girl who has no interest in sexual pleasure but desperately yearns to be pregnant. When a naive friend inadvertently obliges her (they have sex within hours of meeting, while their parents chat downstairs), Aviva's parents (Ellen Barkin and Richard Masur, in thankless roles) demand she get an abortion. After the procedure has sad complications that Aviva doesn't even realize (so, is Solondz pro-choice or not?), she runs away from home and meets various distasteful people who do her no good. Along the way, a degree of perverse entertainment is provided by "The Sunshine Singers," a fictional group of handicapped/diseased children who sing and dance creepy, Christian-pop tunes. Just wait until the "Glee" crowd discovers this film.