Palindromes

Palindromes (2005) is an American indie drama from director Todd Solondz that you can watch online on iFILM. Running 100 minutes, it is one of his most formally daring works — and that is saying something.

Thirteen-year-old Aviva has one fixed ambition: she wants to have a baby. When her well-meaning parents shut that plan down, she runs away, drifting through a series of strangers whose lives are stranger than her own. The film's central conceit is that Aviva is played by eight different actors — different ages, races, sizes — because Solondz's argument is that people never really change, only the packaging does. Ellen Barkin and Jennifer Jason Leigh lead the adult cast.

Deliberately uncomfortable and shaped like its title, Palindromes refuses easy interpretation. Stream it online on iFILM.