Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Mild
- sardonic
- provocative
- disturbing
- arthouse movie night
- provocative discussion night
What critics said
Critics broadly regarded the film as distinctive and intellectually ambitious, while divided over its emotional coldness and experimental recasting of Aviva.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Aviva is played by multiple actors, including Emani Sledge, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Sharon Wilkins, making identity continuity deliberately unstable.
Aviva's trip from suburban New Jersey through Ohio to Kansas encounters sharply opposed social attitudes toward family, religion, sexuality, and abortion.
Aviva remains trusting and determined to become a mother while her parents, religious hosts, and other adults impose contradictory forms of control.
The plot's teenage pregnancy quest and encounters with pro-life religious communities place reproductive politics at the center of its satire.
Films like Palindromes, and why
Welcome to the Dollhouse
shared provocative suburban satire, morally abrasive comedy drama, and unconventional treatment of adolescence
Happiness
shared transgressive family dysfunction, bleak humor, and psychologically unsettling suburban realism
The Reflecting Skin
shared surreal coming of age, identity instability, and emotionally disorienting road-trip structure
Citizen Ruth
shared abortion politics, alienated youth, and confrontational independent drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Todd Solondz
- Release Date
- 2005-03-09
- Runtime
- 100 min
- Rating
- 6.2 / 10 (179)
Cast
- Matthew Faber
- Angela Pietropinto
- Bill Buell
- Emani Sledge
- Ellen Barkin
- Valerie Shusterov
- Richard Masur
- Hillary B. Smith
- Danton Stone
- Robert Agri
Where to watch in United States
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Palindromes about?
- A provocative, darkly comic road fable follows a determined thirteen-year-old whose yearning for motherhood collides with fractured identity and contradictory adult worlds.
- What is Palindromes like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Palindromes as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Palindromes violent?
- Only mildly. Ember rates the violence in Palindromes as mild.
- What did critics think of Palindromes?
- Critics broadly regarded the film as distinctive and intellectually ambitious, while divided over its emotional coldness and experimental recasting of Aviva.
- Which films are like Palindromes?
- Films with a similar feel include Welcome to the Dollhouse, Happiness, The Reflecting Skin, and Citizen Ruth.
- How long is Palindromes?
- Palindromes runs 100 minutes.
- Where can I watch Palindromes?
- In United States, Palindromes is available to rent or buy from Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Fandango At Home.
