April 23: A movie I love that most people haven't heard of
Palindromes is the best movie
about abortion ever made. In fact, no one needs to make a movie about
abortion ever again. Anything you could ever want to say about abortion
is said in Palindromes.
Palindromes is neither pro-life or pro-choice; it does the neat trick of embracing both positions while simultaneously pissing them both off. The narrative follows a young teenager named Aviva, who is determined to get pregnant. After she succeeds, her mother forces her to have an abortion. During the abortion, the doctor messes up her body so she can never have kids. Aviva is so hurt that she runs away and is taken in by a Christian family who have adopted a whole bunch of children who might have otherwise been aborted (one has no limbs, another is blind, one has Down syndrome.) Aviva later learns that the family intends to shoot an abortionist - the same one that performed the abortion on Aviva.
What makes the movie so great is that Aviva is played by 13 different actors. Sometimes she is beautiful. Sometimes she is ugly. Sometimes she is black. Sometimes she is white. Sometimes she's fat. Sometimes she's skinny. We judge Aviva - we like her or we hate her - based entirely on how she looks. The filmmaker, Todd Solondz, is a genius. His name deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg.
It is the best movie I have seen since the new millennium started and everyone needs to see it.
Palindromes is neither pro-life or pro-choice; it does the neat trick of embracing both positions while simultaneously pissing them both off. The narrative follows a young teenager named Aviva, who is determined to get pregnant. After she succeeds, her mother forces her to have an abortion. During the abortion, the doctor messes up her body so she can never have kids. Aviva is so hurt that she runs away and is taken in by a Christian family who have adopted a whole bunch of children who might have otherwise been aborted (one has no limbs, another is blind, one has Down syndrome.) Aviva later learns that the family intends to shoot an abortionist - the same one that performed the abortion on Aviva.
What makes the movie so great is that Aviva is played by 13 different actors. Sometimes she is beautiful. Sometimes she is ugly. Sometimes she is black. Sometimes she is white. Sometimes she's fat. Sometimes she's skinny. We judge Aviva - we like her or we hate her - based entirely on how she looks. The filmmaker, Todd Solondz, is a genius. His name deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as Scorsese, Coppola and Spielberg.
It is the best movie I have seen since the new millennium started and everyone needs to see it.
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