Palindromes (2004)

Todd Solondz' Happiness might not have been the #1 masterpiece of cinema of the last century, but it contained a bunch of really funny, unnerving scenes. The same is true for Palindromes, which I watched in the middle of the night a while ago. My bleary eyes appreciated the pastel-eerie aesthetic of the film. A much weirder film than Happiness, Palindromes takes an offbeat trip in the ever changing bodily shape of "Aviva" (who is played by eight different actors). Aviva, whomever s/he is, lives in a world of strangeness and abuse, flag-waving religious people, sex-crazed men and odd sects. Aviva travels the landscape of childhood / adolescence. Despite occasional acquaintances, Aviva is alone in the world. We recognize Aviva no matter what shape s/he takes. What struck a note with me here was the tone of the film. We see lots of gruesome things happen, but all of it is unraveled in a quiet and melancholy way. Were it not for this way of handling its topic, Palindromes would probably have been an almost unwatchable film. In this way, Palindromes becomes less a provocation, than a sad meditation on insecurity and life as a teen.