NOTE: The below Blu-ray and 4K UHD captures were taken directly from the respective discs.

ADDITION: Radiance 4K UHD (June 2025): Radiance has transferred Todd Solondz's Palindromes to 4K UHD and Blu-ray. It is cited as a "4K restoration from the original negative by the Museum of Modern Art approved by writer-director Todd Solondz". The 4K UHD package offers "one 4K UHD disc of the film and one Blu-ray with the film and special features". The Blu-ray is also sold separately. In 2008, Henrik (RIP) reviewed the Tartan PAL DVD of Palindromes HERE. The UK DVD had no extras at director Todd Solondz's directive.

Like 4K UHD transfers of The Long Wait, I, the Jury, and many others below, Criterion's 2160P transfer of Palindromes does not have HDR applied (no HDR10, HDR10+, nor Dolby Vision.) We have seen many other 4K UHD transfers without HDR; Mondo Macabro's Dr. Jekyll and the Werewolf, Cult Film's Django 4K UHD, Umbrella's 4K UHD transfer of Peter Weir's The Last Wave, and Criterion's 4K UHD transfers of Killer of Sheep, Chungking Express, Winchester '73, The Mother and the Whore, I Am Cuba, The Others, Rules of the Game, Branded to Kill, In the Mood For Love, Night of the Living Dead, and further examples, Masters of Cinema's The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari and Kino's 4K UHDs of Bob le Flambeur, Last Year at Marienbad, Nostalghia, The Apartment, For a Few Dollars More, A Fistful of Dollars, In the Heat of the Night, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, as well as Koch Media's Neon Demon + one of the 4K UHD transfers of Dario Argento's Suspiria.  

Solondz’s visual style in Palindromes is deliberately understated with a flat, almost documentary-like aesthetic that contrasts with the film’s surreal narrative. The suburban settings (strip malls, motels, and pastel-colored homes) are shot in muted tones, emphasizing the banality of Aviva’s world. This visual restraint amplifies the discomfort of the film’s subject matter, as the ordinariness of the settings clashes with the extremity of the events. The 2160P image quality is markedly improved, unveiling intricate details and a pronounced, heavy texture (grain) that enriches the film’s raw, filmic quality, bringing out the muted suburban palette and clinical cinematography by Tom Richmond (Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, House of 1000 Corpses, Waking the Dead) with striking authenticity. The 4K UHD video advances on the Blu-ray, as evidenced by the screen capture comparison below. It is simply the higher resolution which improves the atmospheric depth of Palindromes’ settings from the sterile interiors to the outdoor sequences, offering a more immersive visual experience.

NOTE: We have added 64 more large resolution 4K UHD captures (in lossless PNG format) for DVDBeaver Patrons HERE.

On their 4K UHD and Blu-ray, Radiance uses a DTS-HD Master 5.1 surround track (24-bit) in the original English language. The sound design is understated but effective, using ambient noises to enhance the film’s sense of place and mood. The hum of fluorescent lights in a diner, the distant rumble of traffic, or the clatter of dishes in the Sunshine Family’s kitchen ground the film in a recognizable reality, making its more surreal elements (e.g., the shifting Avivas) feel all the more jarring. The soundtrack of Palindromes, composed by Nathan Larson (Dirty Pretty Things, Lilya 4-Ever, Boys Don't Cry, Margin Call, The Messenger, God's Pocket,) alternates between whimsical, childlike melodies and dissonant, unsettling chords, mirroring the film’s tonal shifts between humor and horror. The Sunshine Family’s musical performances (with their saccharine lyrics and off-key delivery) are both endearing and eerie, encapsulating Solondz’s ability to find beauty in the grotesque. Larson’s score is spare and eclectic, blending minimalist piano motifs, quirky synth sounds, and eerie strings to evoke a sense of unease beneath the film’s surface levity. Dialogue is delivered in a naturalistic, sometimes mumbled style, particularly by the child actors, which adds to the film’s raw, unpolished feel. The lossless surround mix faithfully recreates the film’s deliberate sound design with balanced levels that complement the narrative’s blend of humor and horror, offering a fitting audio restoration. Radiance offers optional English (SDH) subtitles on their Region FREE Blu-ray and Region FREE 4K UHD.

The Radiance 4K UHD disc has no extras. They are all on the second disc Blu-ray. Key features include a new 26-minute interview with Todd Solondz by critic Hannah Strong (Colors of Wes Anderson: The Films in Palettes,) exploring the film’s inspiration and production process, and a 1/4-hour interview with actor Alexander Brickel (March 2025) sharing his on-set experiences. A visual essay by critic Lillian Crawford (2025,) Todd Solondz and His Cinema of Cruelty, examines the director’s fascination with taboos and representation of marginalized groups, while the original trailer offers a nostalgic glimpse. The package also includes a reversible sleeve with poster-inspired designs and a limited edition booklet featuring new writing by Bence Bardos, press book excerpts, and archival interviews with Solondz and composer Nathan Larson.

Todd Solondz's Palindromes is a polarizing and complex film that challenges conventional storytelling, identity, and societal norms. Palindromes is structured as a series of vignettes, divided into chapters named after characters (e.g., “Aviva,” “Judah,” “Henry”,) with a non-linear, cyclical narrative that mirrors the concept of a palindrome--a word that reads the same forward and backward. This structure is not merely stylistic but deeply thematic, suggesting that Aviva’s journey, and perhaps human experience itself, is trapped in a repetitive cycle of desire, failure, and disillusionment. The most striking feature of Palindromes is its use of multiple actors to portray Aviva. By having Aviva played by individuals of different ages, genders, races, and body types, Solondz challenges the viewer’s assumptions about identity as fixed or coherent. This choice aligns with postmodern theories of identity as performative and constructed, suggesting that Aviva’s “self” is less a stable entity and more a projection shaped by her desires and the expectations of others. Solondz (Happiness) has long been preoccupied with the vulnerability of youth, and Palindromes takes this to an extreme by placing Aviva in situations that blur the line between innocence and complicity. Palindromes stands as another wholly original fable of American life crafted by one of cinema's most distinctive visionaries. The Radiance 4K UHD package is strongly recommended.

Gary Tooze