Shaun Richman

“Palindromes” is unremittingly bleak and cynical. Todd Solondz’ latest begins with the funeral of Dawn Weiner, the heroine of his earlier, funnier “Welcome to the Dollhouse.” The alluded-to date rape and suicide of his beloved character signals the film’s non-stop assault on hopefulness. His next victim is a cousin of Dawn’s, 13-year-old Aviva, who wants nothing more than to have “lots and lots of babies.” That innocent desire takes her from dispassionate, cringe-inducing underage sex to a botched abortion (at her liberal mother’s insistence) to hitchhiking and even more cringe-worthy sex with a trucker. From there, Aviva finds herself in the care of Mama Sunshine, a kind and mostly harmless christian who cares for a dozen or so disabled children who live and laugh together and sing and dance boy-band style peans to Jesus and the unborn children, while local yahoos in the basement plan the assassination of an abortion provider (Aviva’s, as luck would have it). And, yes, we see the attack on the doctor’s home, while he plays charades with his children.

Aviva is portrayed by multiple actresses, of different shapes, sizes and colors (including, at one point, Jennifer Jason Leigh). Solondz’ art school distraction serves to keep the character at an emotional distance from the audience. It’s less storytelling and more a sadistic little boy pulling the wings off a butterfly. I consider it a perverse accomplishment that out of an audience of half a dozen paying moviegoers, I was the only person in the theater by the time the credits rolled. Everyone else had left, one by one, in a huff as each new assault on Aviva’s innocence and our good taste came on screen.

“The Ballad of Jack and Rose” is immediately likable, opening with the crescendo of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “I Put A Spell On You” and a long camera pan across an idyllic island commune. The commune is home to Jack, a bombastic Scottish ex-pat played by Daniel Day-Lewis, and his teenage daughter Rose (the very lovely Camilla Belle). It is Rose who is under a spell, hopelessly devoted to her dying father, who has raised and home-schooled her alone ever since the rest of the 60’s society drop-outs who formed the commune – including the unseen mother and wife of the titular duo – left the island to rejoin normal society.

The outside world comes crashing in when Jack invites his girlfriend and her two teenage sons to live with him on the island. “She’s so normal,” hisses an emotionally betrayed Rose, who sets off to lose her virginity and chase the girlfriend from their home.

The 1980’s also come crashing in, as a developer begins building suburban houses over some wetlands on the other side of the island. Beau Bridges plays the developer as a rather likable, nice guy whose response to Jack’s violent and destructive tactics to ward off the development is a living room chat over tea. He is not the villain of the movie. Rather, he is yet another foil for Jack to come to terms with his crisis of conscience over his choices in life and his parenting of Rose.

The film’s climax is tense and unpredictable, but it’s unfortunately ruined by an utterly tacked-on thirty second epilogue. “Oldboy” shares the same dark secret as “Jack and Rose” (Hint: It’s not child molestation, genocide, abortion or assisted suicide, but I’m thinking of adding it to that list). Its ending likewise disappoints.

A stylish, fast-paced and frenetic Korean import, “Oldboy” begins with an unremarkable office worker’s night of public drunkenness and disorderly conduct, and his subsequent abduction and imprisonment. Finding himself in a windowless hotel room with a television as his only connection to the outside world, Dae-su Oh learns that his wife has been murdered and he is the main “person of interest”. He spends the next 15 years teaching himself to fight by watching action movies and boxing matches on the teevee, while plotting his escape and revenge.

When he is just-as-mysteriously let go, Dae-su Oh sets out to find out who imprisoned him, and why, and to get his revenge. At this point, the movie promises to be a slick and amusing revenge flick, akin to “Kill Bill,” with our stoic hero and his quickly acquired nubile sidekick kicking ass and taking names. Indeed, the first half of the movie is a rapid succession of delightful and inventive fights, investigations and fish-out-of-water interactions. But when the “who” of our mystery is revealed too quickly, the “why” and the motivation become increasingly bizarre and the movie runs out of steam.