A Bubble-Filled Heist

My Thoughts on Kajillionaire in a PC* World

*Post-Covid

Kajillionaire [Miranda July], Universal Pictures, 2020.

Miranda July made a brave choice in deciding to release her movie during the tail end of a pandemic and I’d love to give her a massive(ly frowned upon) hug for it!

I’m sure a lot of you share the same feeling of guilt as I do just for going outside and daring to enjoy yourself just a little bit and, as the restrictions became stricter in London, I struggled to justify any form of fun anymore… Luckily I had some stern words with myself and realised that, as a newbie to London, it is important to get myself out there and enjoy the city that I worked so hard to move to.

Going to the cinema has always brought me the utmost pleasure and I am desperate to support this struggling industry so, as a treat, I decided to take a little trip one evening. I had a browse to see what’s on and came across Kajillionaire. After further investigation, I saw that it had been written and directed by Miranda July and I was immediately sold.

One of my favourite movies of all times is Me and You and Everyone We Know which July also starred in. If you have not watched this film, then please do so! It is so charming and dark and funny and came up with an iconic symbol:

 ))<>((

which means pooping back and forth forever. It was conceived by a small boy and then becomes the subject for an art show at the end. It brings me endless joy just thinking about it.

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, Kajillionaire is about a ‘family’ of con artists including Robert (Richard Jenkins), Theresa (Debra Winger) and their daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood) who meet the charming and perfectly normal Melanie (Gina Rodriguez) whilst in the midst of a heist.

Old Dolio, for me, was an utterly fascinating and authentic character whose look and sound reminded me of the sweet skater tomboys that I met down at the park when I was young. They were kind and quiet and just wanted to be one of the boys because, let’s face it, that seemed like a better option than being a pubescent teenage girl. I don’t know if this comparison quite translates as July would be unlikely to use Pompey tomboys from 15 years back as her model for Old Dolio who lives in contemporary LA. If you are tempted to browse the internet, then you can see that Old Dolio’s baggy square tracksuit closely resembles the uniform worn by 90s skaters in LA so I wouldn’t say I was completely off-track here.

Going back to July’s decision to release the film at this time, I believe it really resonates as Robert is constantly, fearfully mentioning ‘the big one’. For them this meant an earthquake, a fairly common occurrence in LA. However, it is impossible not to compare this shared, universal trauma as ‘the big one’ as well.  Whether a person is prepared for this kind of devastation or not, this was one of those rare events that affected everybody and, for a lot of people, this gave them a sense of perspective.

A lot of people when faced with this sense of mortality were lucky enough to have the freedom to reassess what is important to them. This disruption in our daily routines caused a worldwide chance to think a little differently. I always thought when ‘the big one’ happened I would be surrounded by my friends and family but instead we had to find new ways communicate with each other. We were physically unable to connect but this time did allow many of us to reach out to one another and grow together.

In Kajillionaire there were moments of true human connection but also there was a yearning for missing affection. These moments, however, seemed closely related to death…

Whilst on another family heist (where they visit the lonely and vulnerable under the pretence of delivering glasses – aided by Melanie the optometrist’s assistant), they let themselves into the home of an elderly man trying to die. He is struggling to let go and, as Old Dolio reluctantly lets herself into his room, he asks if they could make a lot of noise like play the piano and move around silverware. All he wants in his last moments is to feel surrounded by people, his family, continuing with their normal lives.

Suddenly the physicality of Robert and Theresa change as they attune themselves to the job. They transform from these twisted cons into a conventional, loving family so that they can wait for the man to die and rob him. Jenkins is hilarious as an actor acting in this heart-breaking scene. He jokes around, pretending to eat cake and licking each non-existent crumb from his fingers. Old Dolio is fooled, staring in astonishment at the parents who have always treated her as a colleague. This quickly shatters as Robert hisses at her to check the old man and steal his cheque book. This pretence at normal betrays Old Dolio’s wistful feelings for what her family could be before it all falls around her with the death of a lonely, old man.

July is capable of pulling her audience to the edge of their seats, straining to see further than the dark screen she leaves you with for an entire scene. Old Dolio and Melanie are seeking total darkness so they shut themselves in the toilet of a gas station where the lights are broken. All that is visible on the screen is the faint reflection from a silver hand dryer. Whilst they are in there, an earthquake occurs which Old Dolio concludes must be ‘the big one’. It builds and roars and shakes and neither one of them dare open the door in case they are electrified (a theory of Robert’s). After it eventually subsides the audience, still plunged in utter darkness, is left only with the sound of their breath.

We hear Old Dolio’s low monotone announce that they are dead. SPOILER ALERT! Melanie disagrees as she can still feel herself and still feels alive. This causes an outburst from Old Dolio as she tells her that her brain lives in her tits. The reason Melanie can’t tell that she is dead, according to Old Dolio, is because she has lived too much. She sees her face in the mirror everyday and so she is too self-aware. Whereas Old Dolio will not miss anything as she has not lived. All she did was eat that one pancake – although in mentioning this in her last moments she is remembering a happy, sweet memory and yet still mourns it in her last moments! As they are talking small lights appear and they slowly begin to swirl around the screen creating a whole galaxy in this miniscule, monumental moment in time.

Once they figure out that they aren’t actually dead (I’m sorry), Old Dolio bursts out of the bathroom manically and finds a new zest for life. She realises that she has upset her comrade in death and begs her forgiveness by imitating a newborn that she has seen that crawls up to a Mother as a sign of their bond. Old Dolio has been reborn. And from this confrontation with death an irreversible bond is formed between the two.

July creates these incredible moments of human connection and weaves them seamlessly with death. There is also an ability for the curious to sit perfectly amongst the ordinary. Old Dolio and her family live cheaply below a bubble factory, an industrial setting that leaks a wispy, whimsical pink foam. It is as nonsensical as it is steeped in reality. Melanie tells Old Dolio that most pleasures come from dumb things and, for me, it’s those little moments of oddness that blend in perfectly to the film yet completely transforms it.

July also mentions in a podcast, Design Matters, that she enjoys the dumb pleasure of clothes and I could not agree with her more!

There is so much more that I could write about this film, the many moments of humour twisted in darkness, but I think it would be best if you went to watch it yourself. Support our struggling industries and treat yourself at the same time. I guarantee you will feel better after you’ve seen Kajillionaire.