Movie Review: Todd Solondz’s Palindromes (2004) Update: Dec, 11 2009
I have been listening to the entire catalog of Scottish pop sweethearts Belle & Sebastian. Their album Storytelling was originally written as a score for Todd Solondz’s movie of the same name. After listening to it, I decided to revisit some of Solondz’s films. I loved Welcome to the Dollhouse (I think Heather Mattarazzo is a darling, even to this day), and never realized Dawn Wiener and her brother reappears in Palindromes. So I thought I watched that again as well. In my mind, the music of Belle & Sebastian has already interwoven itself into my perception of Solondz’s nihilistic, deadpan humor.
Alright, I admit it: I originally watched Palindromes to see a boy playing a girl’s role. For this task, Will Denton grudgingly acquiesces.
Upon rewatching it, I found Palindromes to be so much more than the dark comedy of Solondz. People like to use “disturbing,” “unsettling,” and “freaky” to describe his films. Unfortunately, based on this alone the art of Solondz often gets thrown together with the works of Harmony Korine, Larry Clark, and even Zak Penn. I think Solondz’s films, especially Palindromes, is closer in craft and spirit to the forefathers of these guys. Herzog, Jean Luc Godard, and even Wim Wenders. The main character in this film is played by eight different actors of different ages, race, gender, height, weight, etc. It’s not a gimmick. Godard may have used it as playful surrealism, but Solondz utilizes it here to extrapolate on a philosophical outlook the way Bunuel used it as political commentary in That Obscure Object of Desire. Witness the climax of the movie, when Dawn’s older brother, Mark Wiener, alledged but then acquitted ch*ld m*l*ter, strikes up a conversation with Aviva.
Aviva: Do I remind you of Dawn?
Mark Wiener: Yeah, a little, of course different. She was she, you are you. X is not equal to Y. People always end up the way they started out. No one ever changes. They think they do but they don’t. If you’re the depressed type now that’s the way you’ll always be. If you’re the mindless happy type now, that’s the way you’ll be when you grow up. You might lose some weight, your face may clear up, get a body tan, breast enlargement, a sex change, it makes no difference. Essentially, from in front, from behind. Whether you’re 13 or 50, you will always be the same.
Aviva: Are you the same?
Mark Wiener: Yeah.
Aviva: Are you glad you’re the same?
Mark Wiener: It doesn’t matter if I’m glad. There’s no freewill. I mean, I have no choice but to chose what I choose, to do what I do, to live as I live. Ultimately, we’re all just robots programmed abritrarily by nature’s genetic code
Aviva: Isn’t there any hope?
Mark Wiener: For what? We hope or despair because of the way we’ve been programmed. Genes and randomness, that’s all there is and none of it matters.
Aviva: Does that mean you’re never going get married and have children?
Mark Wiener: I have no innate desire to get married or have kids. But that’s beyond my control. Really, it makes no difference. Since the planet’s fast running out of natural resources and we won’t survive till the next century.
Aviva: What if you’re wrong? What if there is a God?
Mark Wiener: If that makes you feel better.
This scene had such an impact on me, I actually saved it to videotape the first time I saw it. It definitely fortified my views on what could and could NOT be changed when one transitioned from one gender to another. I guess Solondz’s cynicism was infectious, for to this day, I firmly believe there are many things no amount of hormones can change.
The scenes with Mama Sunshine’s Pro-Life family are priceless cinematic gems. According to IMDB, Solondz had to put up his entire life savings (this is after several films that critics all over the world went wild over, claiming prizes at film festivals everywhere) to make this film as no studios would back it. Personally the magic of Solondz is that he will go where no man has gone before, just to explore a new dramatic vehicle or narrative structure. Where else can you hope to hear a p*do’s side of the story, a sex maniac’s, a ultra religious pro-lifer’s, a violent lower class boy’s? And they are not always critical. Some are sympathetic. Of course, when his brand of humor hits, you are caught between laughing out loud, crying, wincing, or running off screaming wringing your hands. It’s like an oenophile stumped for a word to describe a Bordeaux.
Of course, it definitely helps that Todd Solondz is from Jersey (“CAUSE JERSEY’S WHERE AMERICA’S AT – YEAH!!!! YEAH!!!! YEAH!!!!). I always root for our boys when one of us makes good.
Plus…I think I may have developed a crush on Todd.
