Todd Solondz, the disturbing mind behind such legendary independent films as "Welcome To The Dollhouse," "Happiness" and "Storytelling," is preparing to once again receive critical acclaim and insulting jeers for his latest movie, "Palindromes."
"There's a positive response to all of my movies, to some extent... And [people] also say all sorts of horrible things about my movies and you don't have to look to far to find them," Solondz said in an interview with The Eagle at the Radisson Hotel in Dupont Circle.
Solondz is in town for the "Palindromes" screening at the D.C. Film Fest. He said he understands he has a fan base, which he said "comforts me and enables me to continue doing what I'm doing."
"Palindromes" is nothing short of what to expect from Solondz, a dark, character-driven piece filled with moments of confused and cautious comedy and PG imagery accompanied by NC-17 discussions. Eight different actors play the main character, Aviva: two black females, five white females (including Jennifer Jason Leigh) and one male. Solondz explained that his casting choices for Aviva were deliberate.
"They're very different performances," Solondz said. "I needed to begin with a black child to alert the audience that something was off, with Ellen Barkin as the white mother. And then she's seventeen now ... and I push it further. You have a boy. You have this large woman, who's in a sense a Gulliver, surrounded by these Lilliputians. And there is Jennifer Jason Leigh, a woman of a certain age. You see that face, it's a life lived ... She's lived her whole life and yet of course, [the character, Aviva, is] still just thirteen. There's a storybook element to all of this, with references to 'Alice in Wonderland,' 'Wizard of Oz,' 'Night of the Hunter,' etc. etc."
The story follows the life of 12-year-old Aviva and her quest to become a mother, all vividly painted over the picturesque background of mixed psuedo-political and religious messages. However, Solondz mentioned that the film is not political, but that the politics are used merely as a setting for the real story. Through Aviva's journey she interacts with the notable characters of Mama Sunshine and her family, who provide a massive contradiction to all the other characters in the film.
"[Aviva] comes from this liberal, secular world," Solondz explained. "An east coast, pro-choice, blue-state world. This world doesn't translate. This is a world of Costco aesthetics. This is a world of a very different sense of language."
As far as the "adult" themes of statutory rape, abortion and teen pregnancy, Solondz explained that these themes are universal.
"Watch television, [listen to] radio and so forth," Solondz said. "All sorts of atrocities and obscenities surround us. Not that I am addressing things that anyone is unfamiliar with, the subject matter is out there all the time. I cannot compete with the Terri Schiavo show, the obscenity and grotesquery. I try to attack my subject from another angle so it's different from what you see on TV."
"Palindromes" has been marketed as Solondz's most tender film to date, as the film contains much less of the quintessential Solondz dark humor of phone stalkers and drugging little boys. As in all his films, he makes it perfectly clear that sometimes it is okay to laugh for reasons aside from slapstick comedy.
"There are no sign posts," Solondz said. "I don't tell you where or when to laugh."
"Palindromes" is rarely laugh-out-loud funny, though there are moments, but the film constantly stirs emotions as the main character changes actors.
"Of all my sad comedies, I would call this the saddest of all of them, because at heart it is a tender, heart-breaking story," Solondz said.
"Palindromes" played at the Avalon Theater as part of the D.C. Film Fest on Friday, April 15.
