Kajillionaire

The best-laid plans of a family of grifters come undone in Miranda July’s most recent feature film.

The threat of eviction looms for a family whose apartment is a leaking office space attached to a soap factory.

Daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood) has been raised by her grifting parents to go from one scam to the next. Content to steal just enough to get by, the trio finds themselves with three months’ rent in arrears after an especially quiet period.

Old Dolio hatches a new scheme. But when her parents blab to a stranger, the scam – and their entire world – is soon turned upside down.

Curator’s Note

Much like the film’s capricious heart, Kajillionaire’s journey to cinema screens was unpredictable.

The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2020. As one of the last major film festivals before the global COVID-19 pandemic, the film’s subsequent release, like many that year, was derailed around the world. By the time the film eventually released in Australia, Melbourne had slipped into another lockdown period.

In a way, all of this is fitting for a film that reflects alternative pathways, disrupted plans and characters making the best of a very bad situation.

– Reece Goodwin, Curator (Film & TV)