Todd Solondz takes us on a similar trip as on Happiness. Yet this is a much more cynical view of human nature even than Happiness. We find it difficult after a while to even have sympathy for Aviva - she becomes an empty shell of a character driven only by yearning for what is lost.
Many other reviewers have covered the storyline and the devices used, but a couple of references however which I picked up: To Night of the Hunter (Aviva's dreamlike journey downstream, ending at the house of comfort mirrors the children's escape from Preacher Harry Powell) although of course in true Todd style, this proves to be a veneer covering true evil.
The Swimmmer - the innocence of Aviva at the start, followed by the awful trip through life which leaves her thrown on life's refuse tip like the foetuses in the plastic bags Solondz' camera observes and makes no judgement, but leaves us writhing inside at the casual and unthinking cruelty of which we are capable. As Dylan says, 'every man's conscience is vile and depraved'.
However Palindromes makes us painfully aware that, just as the perverted trucker spots a defiled doll and says 'My god there's some wacko f*ckers about' we perceive that cruelty is in others only, rather than in ourselves.
Many other reviewers have covered the storyline and the devices used, but a couple of references however which I picked up: To Night of the Hunter (Aviva's dreamlike journey downstream, ending at the house of comfort mirrors the children's escape from Preacher Harry Powell) although of course in true Todd style, this proves to be a veneer covering true evil.
The Swimmmer - the innocence of Aviva at the start, followed by the awful trip through life which leaves her thrown on life's refuse tip like the foetuses in the plastic bags Solondz' camera observes and makes no judgement, but leaves us writhing inside at the casual and unthinking cruelty of which we are capable. As Dylan says, 'every man's conscience is vile and depraved'.
However Palindromes makes us painfully aware that, just as the perverted trucker spots a defiled doll and says 'My god there's some wacko f*ckers about' we perceive that cruelty is in others only, rather than in ourselves.