Palindromes (film)

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Palindromes

Palindromes movie poster
Directed by Todd Solondz
Produced by Mike S. Ryan,
Derrick Tseng
Written by Todd Solondz
Starring Ellen Barkin
Matthew Faber
Rachel Corr
Music by Nathan Larson
Cinematography Tom Richmond
Editing by Mollie Goldstein
Kevin Messman
Distributed by Wellspring Media
Release date(s) September 3, 2004
Running time 100 mins
Country Flag of the United States United States
Language English
Hebrew
Official website
Allmovie profile
IMDb profile

Palindromes is a 2004 comedy/drama film written and directed by Todd Solondz. In the same year it had been released, Palindromes had been nominated for a Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival.

The protagonist, a 13-year-old girl named Aviva, is played by eight different actors (of different ages and races) during the course of the film. In addition to Aviva, Palindromes also features an array of secondary characters.

Contents

[edit] Plot

The movie opens with a funeral for a young woman. The person who has died is in fact Dawn Wiener, the main character from Solondz's film Welcome to the Dollhouse, who went to college, gained a lot of weight, and committed suicide. Her brother Mark (Matthew Faber, reprising his role) reads the eulogy while Dawn's tearful parents remain in the audience. (Solondz had asked the original actress Heather Matarazzo to return to the role; however, she declined.)

Aviva is her cousin, who desires to have a child. She has sex with Judah, a family friend, and becomes pregnant. Aviva's parents are horrifed, and demand she get an abortion. While technically successful, in her dazed state it is implied via a fractured, emotional conversation with the doctor that Aviva can no longer have children. Not fully conscious, Aviva is unaware of this, and her parents, already fragile, lead her to believe all is well when she awakens, afraid to upset Aviva in her fragile state.

Aviva runs away from home. She befriends a trucker and has sex with him as well. However, the trucker abandons Aviva at a motel. She eventually finds her way to the Sunshine Family, which is a Christian fundamentalist foster home that cares for orphans and runaways.

While at the Sunshine Family home, she discovers a dark side to the foster father; he is a murderer of abortion providers. His next target is the doctor who had performed Aviva's abortion earlier in the film. The hitman the foster father uses is the same trucker that Aviva had previously befriended and had sex with.

Convinced she is in love with the truck driver, she flees the Sunshine Family to join him on his assignment. The murder did not go as planned, as, in addition to the doctor himself, Bob ends up accidentally killing the doctor's young daughter when she steps in front of the first shot. The trucker (whose name is revealed to be Bob) and Aviva both stay in a motel room. The police arrive and Bob commits suicide by cop.

The movie then skips ahead to Aviva back home with her parents, planning her next birthday party. During the party, she talks to her cousin Mark, who has recently been accused of molesting a baby. Then, the film skips ahead to Aviva meeting Judah, who now calls himself "Otto", and having sex with him. Once again, Aviva believes she is pregnant.

[edit] Cast

  • Matthew Faber as Mark Wiener
  • Angela Pietropinto as Mrs. Wiener
  • Bill Buell as Mr. Wiener
  • Emani Sledge as 'Dawn' Aviva
  • Ellen Barkin as Joyce Victor
  • Valerie Shusterov as 'Judah' Aviva
  • Richard Masur as Steve Victor
  • Hillary Bailey Smith as Robin Wallace
  • Danton Stone as Bruce Wallace
  • Robert Agri as First Judah
  • Hannah Freiman as 'Henry' Aviva
  • Stephen Singer as Dr. Fleisher
  • Rachel Corr as 'Henrietta' Aviva
  • Stephen Adly Guirgis as Joe/Earl/Bob
  • Will Denton as 'Huckleberry' Aviva
  • Sharon Wilkins as 'Mama Sunshine' Aviva
  • Alexander Brickel as Peter Paul
  • Ashleigh Hertzig as Barbara
  • Risa Jaz Rifkind as Trixie
  • Dontae Huey as Shazaam
  • Debra Monk as Mama Sunshine
  • Walter Bobbie as Bo Sunshine
  • Tyler Maynard as Jiminy
  • Courtney Walcott as Crystal
  • Joshua Eber as Skippy
  • Khush Kirpalani as Ali
  • Sydney Matuszak as Ell
  • David Castro as Carlito
  • Richard Riehle as Dr. Dan
  • Shayna Levine as 'Bob' Aviva
  • Ebrahim Jaffer as Motel clerk
  • Jennifer Jason Leigh as 'Mark' Aviva
  • Andrea Demosthenes as Gwyneth's mom
  • John Gemberling as Second Judah

[edit] Soundtrack

  • Lullaby (Aviva's and Henrietta's Theme)
  • Up on a Cloud
  • Piano Concerto No.1 in B Flat Major, Op.23
  • Nobody Jesus but You
  • Fight for the Children
  • Doctor Dan
  • Love Turned Blue
  • Somebody Loved
  • This Is the Way

[edit] Trivia

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The names of the characters Aviva, Bob, and Otto are all palindromes - as per the title of the film.

[edit] See also

[edit] References