Kajillionaire (M18)
100 minutes / available on HBO and HBO Go / 4 stars
Film-maker Miranda July specialises in tragicomic stories about the mortifying things that happen when people try to connect.
Her latest feature, released last year (2020), centres on the Dynes, a family of grifters and thieves. As fraudsters go, they are terrible. Father Robert (Richard Jenkins), mother Theresa (Debra Winger) and daughter Old Dolio (Evan Rachel Wood) are barely getting by.
A chance meeting with a stranger, Melanie (Gina Rodriquez), might change their fortunes while upsetting the emotional status quo of the family.
This might be July’s most directly comedic and accessible work – there are no trademark surrealist touches, such as talking cats. It is boosted by a great performance from Jenkins as the blustery patriarch who fancies himself a master manipulator.