Palindromes (2004)
Actors:
Ellen Barkin (actress),
Jennifer Jason Leigh (actress),
Angela Pietropinto (actress),
Nathan Larson (composer),
Richard Riehle (actor),
Richard Masur (actor),
José Tejada (miscellaneous crew),
Debra Monk (actress),
Payton Dunham (miscellaneous crew),
Alicia Van Couvering (miscellaneous crew),
Jean Pesce (miscellaneous crew),
Derrick Tseng (producer),
Mike S. Ryan (producer),
Shannon Dennard (miscellaneous crew),
Bill Buell (actor),
Plot: A fable of innocence: thirteen-year-old Aviva Victor wants to be a 'mom'. She does all she can to make this happen, and comes very close to succeeding, but in the end her plan is thwarted by her sensible parents. So she runs away, still determined to get pregnant one way or another, but instead finds herself lost in another world, a less sensible one, perhaps, but one pregnant itself with all sorts of strange possibility. She takes a road trip from the suburbs of New Jersey, through Ohio to the plains of Kansas and back. Like so many trips, this one is round-trip, and it's hard to say in the end if she can ever be quite the same again, or if she can ever be anything but the same again.
Keywords: abortion, abortion-clinic, abortionist, absurdism, actor, adoption, albino, albino-girl, anesthetic, angel
Genres:
Comedy,
Drama,
Quotes:
Joyce Victor: Am I terrible mother?::'Mark' Aviva Victor: Everybody makes mistakes...
'Dawn' Aviva Victor: I want to have lots and lots of babies so that way I will always have someone to love.
Mark Wiener: People always end up the way they started out. No one ever changes. They think they do but they don't. If you're the depressed type now that's the way you'll always be. If you're the mindless happy type now, that's the way you'll be when you grow up. You might lose some weight, your face may clear up, get a body tan, breast enlargement, a sex change, it makes no difference. Essentially, from in front, from behind. Whether you're 13 or 50, you will always be the same.::'Mark' Aviva Victor: Are you the same?::Mark Wiener: Yeah.::'Mark' Aviva Victor: Are you glad you're the same?::Mark Wiener: It doesn't matter if I'm glad. There's no freewill. I mean, I have no choice but to chose what I choose, to do as I do, to live as I live. Ultimately, we're all just robots programmed abritrarily by nature's genetic code::'Mark' Aviva Victor: Isn't there any hope?::Mark Wiener: For what? We hope or despair because of the way we've been programmed. Genes and randomness, that's all there is and none of it matters.::'Mark' Aviva Victor: Does that mean you're never going get married and have children?::Mark Wiener: I have no anent desire to get married or have kids. But that's beyond my control. Really, it makes no difference. Since the planet's fast running out of natural resources and we won't make it into the next century.::'Mark' Aviva Victor: What if you're wrong? What if there is a God?::Mark Wiener: That makes me feel better.
Mark Wiener: People always end up the way they started out. No one ever changes. They think they do, but they don't. If you're the depressed type now, that's the way you'll always be. If you're the mindless, happy type, that's the way you'll be when you grow up. You might lose some weight, your face might clear up, get a body tan, a breast enlargement, a sex change - makes no difference. Essentially... from in front, or from behind... whether you're thirteen or fifty, you'll always be the same.
Joyce Victor: [Talking about Aviva's unborn fetus] It's not a baby. It's just a tumor.
Skippy: My name is skippy just like the peanut butter!
'Mark' Aviva Victor: I know. I believe you because pedophiles love children.
Mama Sunshine Aviva: Last year, our special daughter Nainika ran away and... she didn't even have any legs. She wanted to return to her birthplace in India. Poor child. She didn't even make it as far as India, Tennessee.