Kajillionaire

Kajillionaire is a stealth queer movie. You probably wouldn’t guess it’s queer from its marketing nor even the first half of the film. But rest assured, the film gets there. And it’s not even that the film underplays its queer elements. It’s just that there’s so much other stuff going that it takes the lead character a while to be able to kiss a lady.

The film follows an unusual family of small time criminals. Robert, Theresa and their adult daughter Old Dolio scrape a living by running the smallest of small cons. Robert and Theresa also show Old Dolio little affection and treat her like an associate. This dynamic comes to a head when Robert and Theresa meet Melanie. Melanie is a more or less regular woman with an overly attached mother and a boredom with life. Melanie wants in on the family’s cons and they willingly bring her along. Frustrated by her parents showing Melanie more affection than her, Old Dolio finally feels dissatisfaction with her life and parents. She ends up leaving and staying with Melanie who shows her affection but has unclear motives herself.

What a delightful and tragically weird little story writer/director Miranda July crafts in Kajillionaire. Old Dolio and her parents are characters unlikely but not impossible to exist. The strangeness of the film is always anchored in some sort of reality. And the strangeness of the characters isn’t just random. Old Dolio and both her parents have a certain set of behaviours and beliefs that they hold to. They aren’t just weird for the sake of being weird, they’re fully realized characters who happen to be quite odd. The film also succeeds in having sympathy for its band of weirdos. Even Theresa and Robert who are depicted as having really failed their child are given moments where we can at least understand their philosophy of why they withhold affection.

The queer aspect of the film is pretty unusual. Of course it is, the whole film is unusual. Old Dolio and Melanie’s relationship starts when Melanie writes a list of affections Old Dolio never receives from her parents. Melanie leverages these in exchange for a $1500 cheque. Melanie’s motivations are unclear. She could just be using Old Dolio’s framework of affection needs to be priced in order for Old Dolio to accept this. But maybe not. She walks a line of being someone who could bring Old Dolio untold happiness or absolutely ruin her life. This is definitely an engaging relationship more than a particularly healthy one.

Luckily, the film does end happily for Old Dolio. And thank god. Old Dolio is such a tragic figure that having Melanie betray her would have been devastating. Instead, the film ends on a kiss and the suggestion that Old Dolio is free from her shite parents. I have huge reservations on how Melanie and Old Dolio’s relationship would play out past the ending credits. But the film does end on a moment of pure, happy romance. Kajillionaire basically ends with saying “and then they lived happily ever after”. This seems unlikely to me, but also I want to accept it as true.

I loved this movie. I watched it twice in a week. Kajillionaire has so much going on in it and every part of it is handled so brilliantly. The film is a slowburn romance/belated coming of age story using the crime genre as framework and mixed in with comedic sensibilities. It’s strange little movie with incredibly engaging, characters. It is a surprising film as well. I didn’t expect how strongly I would feel towards the lead, how much heart and understanding the film has nor its moments of unusual profundity. Absolutely check Kajillionaire out. It’s unlike any other WLW film or really, any other film full stop.

Overall rating: 9.3/10

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