Shorts: ‘Palindrome’ Tempts a Reunion with Lingering Doubts

“You know, everyone thought you were dead, and I kept looking for you…I waited for you…”

There is an eerie uncertainty living in the bones of Palindrome, a dreamy tale of return and love from director Krit Komkrichwarakool. The idea of home comes to mind throughout this short as two men are reuinted, but this is a film that dares you to expand into the unknown recesses of your mind and heart.

Matt Dejanovic’s Renner awakens in the middle of the night and senses something that pulls him out of bed. He walks over to the window and see his husband, Ara, standing in the yard in front of their house. Ara is staring up, shirtless and curious, as if he has never seen their home before. Renner runs outside and embraces him with desperate affection.

Most films would shift their focus to answer the why and how of it all, but Komkrichwarakool is a filmmaker who enjoys bathing in the grey. Upon Ara’s immediate return, Renner helps him wipe off the mysterious black markings off of his back, and they enter counseling to deal with how to untangle the emotions swirling around not just Ara’s disappearance but his return. There is a warmth to the amber hues used throughout (which reminded me of the gold tones in Komkrichwarakool’s Auganic) and we feel isolated from the rest of the world even though the mountain surroundings transmit such comforting tranquility.

It’s impressive how Komkrichwarakool continues to bake such raw emotionality between such beautiful men while also guiding us to something mysterious and new. Just when I thought I was putting too much sci-fi energy into the relationship, the filmmaker takes hairpin turns with such delicacy and depth that you cannot help but trust them. The story beats of Palindrome almost feels unnecessary because so much is translated in these feelings that he conjures from us. He does so much with silence and tension that he could make a silent film feel like it brims with dialogue.

Perhaps Ara’s disappearance doesn’t matter as much as his return. If your lover went missing but you found them once again…wouldn’t you want them back? No matter how different or how similar that they may seem?