Direction: Miranda July
Country: USA
Kajillionaire is the first feature directed by Miranda July (Me and You and Everyone We Know; The Future) in nine years. Beautifully acted throughout, this is a strange, often taciturn trip to the peculiar world of a dysfunctional family.
Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger are Robert and Theresa Dyne, respectively, a couple of remorseless, incorrigible scammers that forcefully push their homeschooled, avid-for-love 26-year old daughter, Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood), into their beyond-belief schemes. The family lives on the edge of survival but the parental exploitation suddenly comes to a halt when a complete stranger, Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), joins them for a critical heist.
In addition to the deep-rooted cunningness of the parents, which is sharply portrayed, there’s a tiresome self-pitying tone that would have worked better if transformed into sarcasm. Although I was mildly entertained with the subtle absurdity, laughs are infrequent and I struggled to connect completely. From my perspective, the film tried in vain to push the limits of its poker-faced way and failed in its most riotous moments. It doesn’t really get better as it advances but rather maintains the off-kilter procedures.
