By: Amanda Guarragi
Kajillionaire written and directed by Miranda July, is a pretty obscure film about trauma, family dysfunction and self discovery, that never reaches its full potential. It is an extremely slow film, that can be confusing at times because of the constant con jobs. It felt like a downward spiral, for all of those characters, especially for Old Dolio, played by Evan Rachel Wood.
It does have something to say about the class system in America and how the economy functions. Low income families need to find other avenues, in order to survive and July shows that, in the quirkiest way possible. It is a bland film that doesn’t know what it’s supposed to be. The family dynamic was interesting to study, but their connection with each other, became very irritating. The choices that were made, did not make any sense either, which was incredibly frustrating to sit through.
(left) Debra Winger, Evan Rachel Wood and Richard Jenkins
Thankfully halfway through the film Melanie, played by Gina Rodriguez breathed some life into Evan Rachel Wood’s dead character, whose backstory was interesting and emotional but it was never fully explored. There was so much to unpack with Old Dolio and I wish the story focused on her, more than the con job. The growing tension between Old Dolio and Melanie, was the saving grace in this piece, it’s the only thing that kept me interested until the end of the film.
It is a film that does not really have a clear journey, it feels disjointed and spaced out because of Old Dolio’s characterization. The quirkiness was too much and it felt like Evan Rachel Wood was overacting at times, in order to achieve maximum quirkiness. I didn’t find it humorous at all and some moments made me cringe because of how awkward it was. I understood that there was past trauma and that they tried to explain it but it wasn’t executed properly.
Kajillionaire had some great camerawork and unique emotional moments but lost itself in the quirkiness of Old Dolio. It’s an obscure film, that will pull at the heartstrings at key moments, but will lose you for the majority of the runtime. It is the opposite of a fast paced con job, with odd characters and a wild card coming in halfway through.
Candid Cinema 