‘Kajillionaire’ gives unique humanity to family of pros at cons
A codependent family of scammers tops the new DVD releases for the week of Dec. 22.
“Kajillionaire”: Writerdirector Miranda July (“The Future,” “Me and You and Everyone We Know”) continues her singularly empathic look into offbeat lives, this time following a family of Los Angeles grifters. Residing in an office space next to a soap factory, complete with overflowing bubbles they must scrape off the walls as a daily chore, parents Robert and Theresa (Richard Jenkins and Debra Winger) and daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood) commit forgeries and cons just to barely get by.
After an unintended run-in with the landlord and the family needing rent money fast, Old Dolio concocts a scheme in which the family will fly to New York and back, parents pretending not to know their daughter upon return, and find an accomplice to take Old Dolio’s luggage so she can blame the disappearance on the airline and collect a travel insurance check. But as her parents find their target, the posh Melanie (Gina Rodriguez), she quickly charms them into including her in future endeavors. And Old Dolio, who pretends to be a mother and attends early childhood seminars in her spare time, is unsettled by the family addition.
With her loose long hair and tracksuit, a monotone voice and difficulty expressing “tender feelings,” Wood’s Old Dolio is mesmerizing, her slow movements and drawl a juxtaposition to her neuroses. She desperately wants to know what it’s like to feel parented, and her want is the heartbeat of the film.
As always, July offers her characters an almost primal sense of humanity in what some parents can ultimately give their children, what they can’t, and the importance of finding one’s own chosen family in the meantime.
ALSO NEW ON DVD
“The War with Grandpa”: A grandson (Oakes Fegley) seeks revenge on his grandfather (Robert De Niro) for stealing his bedroom.
“The Craft: Legacy”: Reboot/sequel of 1996’s “The Craft” follows group of teenage witch friends who discover how to use their powers. Stars Cailee Spaeny, Zoey Luna, Gideon Adlon and Lovie Simone.
“Jiu Jitsu”: Jiu-jitsu fighters confront an alien invasion. Stars Alain Moussi, Nicolas Cage and Raymond Pinharry.
“The Shop Around the Corner”: 1940 comedy follows bitter business rivals who have unwittingly fallen in love with each other as penpals. Stars James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan.
“It Happened on 5th Avenue”: In this 1947 comedy, a drifter (Victor Moore) invites an unknowing evicted veteran (Don DeFore) to move into the New York townhouse in which he’s squatting.
“The Place of No Words”: Father-son drama explores mortality after a young boy asks about the existence of an afterlife. Stars Mark Webber, Teresa Palmer and Bodhi Palmer.