Palindromes

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I know it hasn't been released in the U.S. yet (at least not officially), but has anyone seen Todd Solondz new film "Palindromes" yet? I guess it's about a twelve-year old girl who wants to have a baby.

I like Solondz, but I don't care for the path he's treading. He keeps having to be defense, saying he's not making "issue" movies, but it's really BS. Whether or not he's attempting to make an issue about a social phenomenon or not, he's still dealing with controversial films and relying pretty heavy on taboos and shock value to drive his films. John Waters did the same thing, but the humor in his films allowed for them to become something more than "issue" movies. And humor is very difficult to come by in Solondz' work.

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Thursday, 23 December 2004 21:18 (twenty years ago)

Saw it at the NY Film Fest. It doesn't work. He said in Q&A afterward that he wasn't trying to exploit the mentally and physically disabled kids who appear in the film, but c'mon Todd, get a grip.

The audience was distressingly filled with what I call "Langley Schools types" who were ready to laugh at anything.

I DID like some of the abortion-thenmed stuff, such as Ellen Barkin as she forced her pubescent daughter to terminate: "Just think of it as a tumor!"

btw, the pubescent girl protag is played by about 8 different actors, including an obese black woman and Jennifer Jason Leigh.

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Sunday, 26 December 2004 04:05 (twenty years ago)

"btw, the pubescent girl protag is played by about 8 different actors, including an obese black woman and Jennifer Jason Leigh. "

What is it with the multiple actors playing a single character thing? It was interesting in "Suture" and "Lost Highway", but apparently Todd Haynes in planning on using the same technique in a Bob Dylan biop. It's like PC taken to the extreme...

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Sunday, 26 December 2004 21:02 (twenty years ago)

two months pass...

It's because Bunuel did the "two actresses play one character" thing so damn well in "Obscure Object of Desire"- every body wants to cop the move . . . but it was so clearly motivated by the nature of the plot in Bunuel's film, it's hard to imagine that other uses of this technique aren't just overdetermined acts of homage to the master . . .

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Monday, 14 March 2005 22:26 (twenty years ago)

I thought Don Luis had originally cast another actress who turned out to be problematic and only if that didn't work out did he think of the two actresses solution. Bonus points if you can name the other actress.

― Ken L (Ken L), Monday, 14 March 2005 23:00 (twenty years ago)

Honestly, I was never that impressed with the two actresses thing. It's not that it's bad - it's just that there's little rationale for the switch from one to the other, afaik.

― Girolamo Savonarola, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 01:41 (twenty years ago)

it's kind of an interesting idea for the dylan biopic... somehow the last thing you want is just a biography of the guy, you know?

― dave k, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 03:39 (twenty years ago)

I could deal with a straight biopic, given that it was four hours long & some brilliant unknown actor played Dylan.

Maybe we can just let Bob direct it & have some bizarre amalgam of "Masked-and-Anonymous-meets-Renaldo-and-Clara-meets-Eat-The-Document". Scary...

― jay blanchard (jay blanchard), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 19:30 (twenty years ago)

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