Review: 'Kajillionaire'

 Miranda July makes it especially awkward in this offbeat family drama.

One of the films that may have flown under the radar in 2020 was a small indie flick directed by Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know) about a family of con-artists who lead a hastily conceived heist and end up befriending a stranger who changes their dynamic forever. Two parents (the phenomenal duo of Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) have been training their daughter, Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood) to steal, swindle, and scam for 26 years, and of course to fear the 'big one' - an earthquake so devastating that you just...die. 

After a meeting at a parent's group, Old Dolio starts to suspect that she's been living a much different life than everyone around her, and the need for normalcy starts creeping up under the surface when the family meets Melanie (Gina Rodriguez) on their latest scam. Melanie is bubbly, sensitive, attractive, and genuinely friendly which puts her at opposite ends with Old Dolio. 

Gina Rodriguez and Evan Rachel Wood lead this drama about a family of con artists

July uses a lot more humor here than she has in previous works and to great effect with Richard Jenkins in particular as the non-conformist conman father. He offers up conspiracy theories that Old Dolio readily believes without hesitation, and while July is leading you in with humor, you see the psychological toll it takes on Old Dolio who has to confront the world as it really is versus the one she's been taught to believe. Thus July presents us with the conundrum of this character: how long are we supposed to believe everything our parents tell us? And what do we do with the new information once we have it?

These are the questions at the heart of Kajillionaire, which does its job to sell you as an offbeat comedy in the beginning. With the family trying to avoid paying the rent and coming up with inventive schemes to make money. There's a great bit at the beginning of the film with Old Dolio getting a massage that is both laugh out loud funny and concerning. It's a tactic used throughout the film.

Each moment of laughter is either followed by or wrapped up in a frightening and unsettling reality. Kajillionaire isn't really there to make you laugh, but if you do, it will be uncomfortable, and that's the point. To feel every bit as unusual as Old Dolio does. 

Which Evan Rachel Wood absolutely nails. She gets her voice to go several octaves deeper, her femininity is stripped down, and she's covered mostly in baggy clothes, suits, or long t-shirts. On top of that, she doubles down on the awkwardness. Wood gives her character a proximity complex that is strained, volatile, and paranoid. She's almost an impossible character to like or enjoy and yet she's charismatic, sharply funny, and intriguing to a fault.

The same could be said for Debra Winger who emerges from the shadows to play Old Dolio's distant and detached mother, Theresa. Winger is effortless in this role and simply goes for it. She's got the dead eyes, the flat voice, the dismissive posture. She's the character with the most to lose in this film and she really couldn't give a damn. Her callousness strengthens every scene she's in and further adds to Old Dolio's trauma. The most pivotal scene comes when Theresa can't bring herself to call her daughter 'hun'. It's this simple loving gesture that any mother should be able to do, that she refuses to that shows how emotionally unavailable she is for her daughter.

The other Mother Theresa

As weighted as it is, there is a hopefulness to it. We see Old Dolio begin to accept the reality of the world around her, and her own uniqueness while finding love and friendship. It's a taxing experience to get to that point but once you're there, it's worth it. You know Old Dolio's trauma may be permanent, and she'll definitely require years of therapy, but she gets a happy ending and her relief is cathartically yours as well.