Palindromes

This is a movie I've been wanting to see since before it came out, but I haven't really had a chance to. I've always passed this DVD at the video store. The cover would always catch my eye - it's a cartoonish illustration of a large black girl walking in the woods. As someone who's into design of any sort, I wondered, "Why a cartoon?" It's not particularly beautiful, or captivating, or even that well-rendered.

After watching the movie, the illustration makes sense. All of the characters in the movie are cartoonish. Exaggerated, extreme, and in most cases hysterical, the characters act out people types from real life. This is what makes the movie confounding. The whole time I'm watching the movie I'm thinking - what is he trying to say? Gross exaggerations are usually not without purpose.

The funny thing is - he presents everyone as a cartoon, yet he also manages to portray the humanity in the midst of their absurdity. It's a mindblowing feat that he manages to do over and over in every movie of his that I've seen. I really want to say it's on the level of genius. Who else manages so easily and so regularly to place his characters in that precarious position between empathy and ridicule?

There is abortion, pedophilia, and rape in this movie. There are characters on every side of every issue, but even in the end you still don't know where Todd Solondz stands. Who is he for? What does he want us to take away?

A monologue from the characters towards the end of the movie - and one that is presumably Todd's point of view - may provide a clue. The character believes no one changes. We may believe we do, but we enter the same as we leave. We are the same person as 10 as we are 50. There is no choice, it's all genes and randomness. We are all stuck in situations beyond our control. And maybe that's what Todd's philosophy in art is. He shows us the absurdity of human life. It affects everyone, and therefore everyone in his films comes from this same exaggeration of humanity. Maybe he is not for or against abortion. Maybe he just wants to show how ridiculous it can be, on both sides, and how there's not really one stance that can or should be taken. If there's no political stance taken, then what's left but mere human observation? He is saying with his characters - this is who we are. We are all ridiculous and absurd, yet we are all human. We act from our past, we make mistakes, we live on, yet despite all of that, we don't change. That we all do this, regardless of what extreme stance we take on issues, is what makes us human.

This is a powerful film. I don't know if I can fully believe the cynicism, but Solondz's message is potent regardless. I was provoked, and my mind engaged. (This movie is definitely not for everybody).

MP3: N. Larson - Aviva Pastoral