Review: ‘Kajillionaire’
Don’t be fooled by ‘Kajillionanire’’s misleading trailer and blitzy marketing campaign: The latest film from writer / director Miranda July is not a heist movie. While it might start off that way, it is so much more than that. It is a searing rumination on the depths people will go to in order to make a living and the broken system that forces them to take such measures. A deep examination of familial relationships and how they can tie us down, leaving us in limbo, completely still and stagnant with unrealized potential. A bittersweet exploration of the powerlessness and despair that result from low self-esteem and the passion and yearnings of first love. July has crafted a powerful celebration of love, life and new beginnings, and one of the best movies of the year.
‘Kajillionaire’ centers on the Dyne family. Made up of Robert (Richard Jenkins), Theresa (Debra Winger) and their daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), who they named after a homeless man they once encountered who ended up winning the lottery, they have resorted to a life of petty crime in order to ensure their livelihood. Living on scam to scam in the basement of a soap factory, they spend their days plotting their next half-baked scheme while trying to mop up the leftover bubbles making their way into their uncomfortable living arrangement. Their routine is interrupted by a chance encounter with Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), an optical saleswoman at the local mall who they stumble upon during one of their schemes. Robert and Theresa are completely enamored by the bright and bubbly Melanie and they soon welcome her into their tightly knit fold, much to Old Dolio’s chagrin, changing the entire course of their lives in the process.
Hunched over, her blonde long hair covering most of her face and speaking in the scratchy cadence of a 50 year old chain smoker, Evan Rachel Wood is completely unrecognizable in the role of a young woman in the throes of arrested development. She completely disappears into the role of an infantilized woman, completely reliant on her parents and in desperate, palpable need of some love and attention. Rachel Wood goes to great lengths to depict how uncomfortable Old Dolio is in her own skin; a specific scene involving a massage coupon she managed to steal is hilariously excruciating to watch but also incredibly sad, with Rachel Wood managing to demonstrate just how touch-starved Old Dolio is with a few jittery spasms and growls alone. It is the type of understated, mostly physical performance that will unfortunately probably slip under the radar of awards voters who tend to favor more flashy emotional showcases.
Richard Jenkins, on the other hand, is a delight as the Dyne family patriarch, delivering a hilariously stiff performance of a man driven to terrible lengths in order to support his family. Meanwhile, Debra Winger exudes an air of self-pity and bitterness as a woman whose life hasn’t gone to plan, while Gina Rodriguez is diaphanous as the confident and seemingly carefree Melanie, grounding the film as a cool, collected foil to the awkward and perpetually nervous Dynes and turning in a career-best performance in the process. The chemistry between Rodriguez and Rachel Wood is also undeniable, the sparks between them practically jumping off the screen.
The world July’s characters inhabit will feel incredibly familiar to many, especially in such a turbulent year where unemployment numbers are on the rise and people are being driven to desperate measure in order to survive. July is very careful in her depiction of the Dyne family, avoiding any clichés that could turn them into cartoonish parodies and treating them with a lot of respect. It is very important the audience sympathizes with and trusts them before the rug gets pulled from under both Old Dolio and us with a dramatic tonal shift preceded by a literal earthquake that turns the family’s lives on its head and tests their commitment to one another.
Just when you think you might have a good grasp on where the movie is headed, it twists and turns, slipping away from you and morphing from a heist movie to a kooky off-kilter comedy and finally to a part tragic, part heartwarming tale of the ties that bind sometimes a little too tightly. Blood is not always thicker than water, not when it has thinned out due to years of mistreatment and alienation, and July is more than aware of this, expertly crafting a pitch perfect, heart wrenching movie that turns the concept of “family” on its head.
Rating: 4.5/5
Kajillionaire is now playing in theaters and will be released on VOD on October 16.