Palindromes and other such films...

[dingbat (imported)]

The other night I finally got to see 'Palindromes' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0362004/) the Todd Solonz film. It was fascinating to watch.

The main character, Aviva, is played by lots of different actors (two women, four girls (13-14 years old), one 12-year-old boy and one six year old girl, and a couple of incidental actors). The characters also change race. At the beginning, Aviva is a six year old black child, then she becomes a Dominican girl, then a red-headed caucasian. At times she is an adult and, at one point, a boy.

It's quite challenging to watch as the continuity is a bit odd. You have to adjust to the different Aviva's, all played out in carefully chaptered scenes.

I think, from my own perception of the film, that the intention is to show how much we base our opinions on visual features. You feel quite differently towards the different actors who play the parts, dependent upon what they look like. At times you feel sorry for her, other times you feel she is a very small, naieve child, then you think she's a very well-informed child, then you think she's an extremely manipulative child. I swung between feeling enormous sympathy for her to feeling that most of her problems were her own fault!

It touches on some difficult subjects; paedophilia, murder, sexual exploitation and it also has often been called 'anti-Christian' as the possible main mesage of the film is pro-abortion (this seems to be what most of the film centres around) and, at one point, Avivia is taken in by a somewhat peculiar Christian family (my interpretation) who are very welcoming to her initially but then, later, they define her as a 'child ho' and she runs away from them.

Basic plot is that of a 13 year old girl who wants to get pregnant. She gets pregnant but then her family make her have an abortion. During the operation something goes wrong and she ends up having a hysterectomy. Her parents don't tell her this and so she continues trying to get pregnant. She ends up going on a 'road trip' (put in hyphens because the road trip really appears to be a vehicle for the plot line) during which time she encounters some of middle-America's hypocrisies (in the words of Todd Solonz).

I wondered if anyone else had seen this film and, if so, what they thought of it? I think it's quite relevant here because the central tenet of the movie is that people base their opinions on very vague things, usually upon what they can see or upon what I would call 'myth-information'.

It deals with a child who has gender issues and who chooses not to opt for any particular solution unlike, for example, a film like 'Ma Vie En Rose' where there are clear demarcation lines drawn. Having said that I'm a big fan of 'Ma Vie En Rose' which contains the immortal lines :

Father : "Couldn't we cut his hair?"

Mother : "Yes and we could also crucify him."

Here's a link (http://www.imdb.com/gallery/granitz/292 ... ey=0362004) to a photograph of some of the actors who played 'Aviva' in the film, quite interesting to look at although it doesn't show all of the actors who played her.

I'd be interested to hear anyone else's view on this film?

Thanks.

PS I've also spent a long time looking to find a film called 'Boy Split Girl' but I can't find it listed anywhere, tried Googling to no effect, anyone know anything about this film please?

[Paolo]

I've never heard of "Boy Split Girl"; imdb had nothing about it. Didn't even find it.

'Ma Vie En Rose' was a great one, too. I watched a DivX copy of a European disc, which I much prefer, since sometimes the American releases tend to cut things out. I thought it was very well done, but could have done with just a couple more minutes of dialog as what to do about the boy's desires to be a girl, especially with the threat of puberty. The hero was rather young in the show to address that, though, come to think.

Not long ago, Jesus posted a link about a young boy being the world's youngest TS candidate, but I can't locate it now.

If I do hear of anything on the "BsG" film, I'll let you know. I have a lot of movie contacts online.

[dingbat (imported)]

I'm interested in what you said about 'Ma Vie En Rose' Paolo. It never really occurred to me that they didn't take the issue further. Not sure why. Mind you, I haven't seen it for years. I was interested in the way the parents dealt with it and how they, in turn, dealt with their neighbours. But, you're right, I suppose it is a rather unsatisfactory ending.

Another great film is 'A Ma Soeur' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243255/) which is a French language film (I believe it is called 'Fat Girl' in the US). For some reason, in the UK, when it was released on DVD they decided to edit out two minutes of film near to the end. Unfortunately this makes the film almost unwatchable as it makes very little sense without that two minutes. I had a real argument, via email, with the BBFC (the British Board of Film Classification) about it. Their claim was that it might 'encourage people watching the DVD to groom children for paedophilia'. That claim in itself is rather ridiculous as the entire film is based around sexual violence. Both sisters in the film are under age and yet they only edited one scene involving the 12 year old. Apparently anal sex with a 15 year old was ok. Work that one out! The laws in the UK are quite confusing though, not sure about the US, if a child is under 13 different rules apply to film censorship so maybe that was it. Shame though, for people who wanted to see the film because it's a good film rather than for any horrible purpose. It IS a shocking film though, so if anyone watches it, watch out, it doesn't make for easy viewing. I would recommend it if you bear to watch sub-titled films or if you speak French. I believe the French DVD is unedited.

I've tried to locate 'Boy split girl' through a few deleted film companies who specialise in finding such films, they haven't had any luck. I'm fairly sure it was made in the 1970's or early 1980's. It definitely exists, of that I'm sure, but where to find it ... that I don't know and so any info you might be able to dig up about it would be great, thank you.

[Paolo]

I'll ask about it.

Is there any weblink to it you can find?

Year? Actors? Summary?

Thanks.

As I said, I generally don't prefer US DVD's and like to watch movies from other countries. Generally, they're much better anyway!

Have you ever seen "For a Lost Soldier"?

[dingbat (imported)]

I honestly don't really know any more details about 'Boy Split Girl' Paolo, sorry. The person who told me about it, mentioned it many years ago to me, it had been on the TV over here I think. It was probably made in the 1970's, early 1980's as I said and the subject matter was that of trans/agender.

I've never been able to locate it although I'm sure it must still exist somewhere.

I haven't seen 'For a Lost Soldier' but I've just done a Google on it and it looks as though it might be interesting.