- Palindromes (film)
Infobox Film
name = Palindromes
caption = "Palindromes" movie poster
director =Todd Solondz
producer =Mike S. Ryan ,Derrick Tseng
writer =Todd Solondz
narrator =
starring =Ellen Barkin Matthew Faber Rachel Corr
music =Nathan Larson
cinematography = Tom Richmond
editing =Mollie Goldstein Kevin Messman
distributor =Wellspring Media
released =September 3 ,2004
runtime = 100 mins
country = USA
language = English
Hebrew
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.wellspring.com/movies/movie.html?movie_id=62
amg_id = 1:310804
imdb_id = 0362004"Palindromes" is a 2004 comedy/drama film written and directed by
Todd Solondz . In the same year it was released, "Palindromes" was nominated for a Golden Lion award at theVenice Film Festival .The
protagonist , a 13-year-old girl named Aviva, is played by eight different actors (of different ages, races, and genders) during the course of the film. "Palindromes" also features an array of secondary characters.Plot
The movie opens with a funeral for a young woman. The person who has died is Dawn Wiener, the main character from Solondz's film "
Welcome to the Dollhouse ", who went to college, gained a lot of weight, and committedsuicide . Her brother Mark (Matthew Faber , reprising his role) reads the eulogy while Dawn's tearful parents sit in the audience. (Solondz had asked the original actressHeather 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 horrified, 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.Aviva runs away from home. She befriends a
trucker and has sex with him. However, the trucker abandons her at amotel . She is eventually found by the Sunshine Family, aChristian fundamentalist foster home that cares for orphans and runaways. She tells them that her name is Henrietta, the name she picked for the baby that she was persuaded to abort.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 performed Aviva's abortion. Thehitman 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 does not go as planned, as, in addition to the doctor himself, the trucker (whose name is revealed to be Bob) ends up accidentally shooting the doctor's young daughter when she steps in front of the first shot. Bob and Aviva both stay in a motel room. The
police arrive and Bob commitssuicide 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.
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 Judahoundtrack
* 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 WayTrivia
* The names of the characters Aviva, Bob, and Otto are all
palindromes - as per the title of the film.ee also
*
List of films portraying paedophilia or sexual abuse of minors References
*imdb title|id=0362004|title=Palindromes
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