a man, a plan, a canal: panama

I went to see the most recent Todd Solondz movie last night, Palindromes. I was prepared to feel intensely uncomfortable for approximately 90 minutes, and I was not disappointed. The film raises a lot of questions about why people have children, what it means to be moral, and what identity even means. And it's really effing funny.

This morning I read some of the reviews for it, and was rather surprised to find that the majority of the reviews were very negative. "Misanthrope" was the term thrown around a lot, a film with no happy moments to hang onto, etc. Do I have some smug sense of superiority (rhetorical question!), or are these people just not getting it? Is there something wrong with creating art that intentionally makes people uneasy? Does creating an uncomfortable reality = bad filmmaking? The nature of film is often to exaggerate reality: exaggerated happiness (see: romantic comedies), exaggerated violence (see: quentin tarantino). Why's exaggerated awkwardness getting the bad rap?

So I wholeheartedly endorse the film. Moreover, I wholeheartedly endorse the Castro Theatre. I saw a total of three films there this week (Palindromes and the double feature of the Kill Bill films). They've got grandeur, they've got an organist, they've got nutritional yeast for the popcorn. Amen.