Emani Sledge

Palindromes is one of those films that just messes with your head from the get-go. It follows Aviva, a young girl dealing with the kind of heavy, impossible stuff that makes you want to laugh, cry, and squirm all at once. The wild thing? Aviva isn’t played by just one actor—she’s played by multiple actors of different ages, races, and even genders, sometimes in the same scene. So, one minute she’s this awkward tween, and the next, she’s a grown woman or a boy, and you’re left questioning what’s real, who’s who, and what the filmmaker’s trying to say (it’s Todd Solondz, so...yeah, it’s weird on purpose). Anyway, Aviva’s got one dream: she wants to have a baby. She’s obsessed, honestly—like, laser-focused. But her world? Not exactly supportive. Her parents freak out, there’s a mess of adults with way too much baggage, and Aviva gets swept into this bizarre road trip that turns into a dark, twisted fairy tale through America’s underbelly. You meet a cast of characters so offbeat you start to wonder if you’re watching a fever dream—fundamentalist Christians, runaways, awkward family dinners that just go off the rails, and more than a few moments that’ll make you uncomfortable in all the best (and worst) ways. It’s got this biting humor, but there’s always something sad lurking underneath. Todd Solondz doesn’t really pull any punches with the themes—think abortion, religion, identity, all tangled up together. The whole thing is unsettling, a little bit absurd, and strangely hypnotic. If you’re in the mood for a movie that’s as challenging as it is unique, Palindromes is a wild ride.