Kajillionaire Movie Review

『Rough Yet Tender — The Liberation and Connection of Two Women』

🎥 Movie Overview

🎬 Title: Kajillionaire (2020)
🌍 Country: 🇺🇸 United States
🎞️ Genre: Drama / Comedy / Romance
🗓️ Production & Distribution: Plan B Entertainment · Annapurna Pictures, Focus Features
⏳ Runtime: 106 minutes
📢 Director: Miranda July
🖋️ Screenwriter: Miranda July
📺 Platform: Theatrical Release · PVOD Streaming Available

👩‍💼 Cast: Evan Rachel Wood – as Old Dolio Dyne
Gina Rodriguez – as Melanie Whitacre

🧩 In-Depth Story Exploration (Spoilers)

🌑 A Portrait of Loveless Family and Emotional Neglect

Kajillionaire may appear, on the surface, to be the bizarre story of a family of small-time con artists scraping by on petty scams. Yet at its core, it is a sharp analysis of how the absence of unconditional parental love shapes a person’s emotional world.

• Old Dolio’s Emotional Deprivation: Old Dolio has been treated as a “partner in crime” rather than a child ever since birth. Even her name was taken from a lottery winner’s, as if to bring luck — symbolizing how her existence was bound to her parents’ selfish desires from the start.
• Love as a Transaction: For the Dyne family, “family” is not built on emotional bonds but on cold economic transactions. Every day’s earnings are divided precisely into thirds; hugs or any sign of affection are entirely absent. Having never been loved by her parents, Old Dolio becomes emotionally repressed, speaks in a muted tone, and isolates herself from all human contact.
• The Normalization of Abnormality: The family lives in a leaking office space filled with soap bubbles and constantly prepares for earthquakes. To outsiders, their lives seem absurd, but for Old Dolio, this is “normal.” The film follows her lonely journey toward discovering what genuine human emotion feels like within this distorted environment.

💚 The Savior and Catalyst: Melanie’s Arrival

Melanie is the “bomb of normalcy” thrown into the Dyne family’s strange world — and the decisive catalyst for Old Dolio’s emotional liberation.

• Contrasting Character Design: Melanie embodies brightness, warmth, and empathy — everything that represents a “normal” person. She radiates the spontaneity, kindness, and human touch that Old Dolio has never known.
• From Jealousy to Redemption: When Melanie joins the Dyne family’s schemes, Old Dolio experiences jealousy for the first time. Seeing her parents show Melanie a kind of warmth and smiles they never gave her, she painfully realizes she was never a daughter — only a tool.
• Discovering Human Touch: Through her relationship with Melanie, Old Dolio learns new ways to connect with the world. Eating pancakes, dancing, and even expressing herself through nonconforming gender presentation and behavior — all of this is embraced by Melanie. Most importantly, their relationship becomes a safe space for Old Dolio to explore physical intimacy and sexual identity (LGBTQ+ theme), unlocking emotions she has long suppressed.

👩‍❤️‍👩 The Romance Between Old Dolio and Melanie

The connection between Old Dolio and Melanie forms the film’s most touching and transformative core.

• A Healing Romance: Their bond transcends sexual attraction — it is more of a “trauma bond” between two wounded souls. Melanie, too, carries emotional emptiness due to her strained relationship with her mother and finds a peculiar thrill in the Dyne family’s dysfunction. Yet she quickly recognizes Old Dolio’s deep deprivation and offers her affection that goes beyond pity — genuine love.
• The Language of Touch: Having been denied even basic affection such as hugs or kisses from her parents, every touch from Melanie — holding hands, receiving a massage together — becomes part of Old Dolio’s process of learning the fundamental language of human love.

🎞️ Miranda July’s Unique Aesthetic and the Ending

Director Miranda July approaches these heavy emotional themes in a way that is both strange and deeply charming.

• Deadpan Comedy: The film maintains a consistently blank, dry humor, presenting the family’s bizarre behavior as if it were ordinary. This “deadpan” tone does not ridicule their emotional neglect but instead allows us to observe it with quiet empathy.
• A Fairy-Tale Ending: The story concludes as Old Dolio finally breaks free from her parents’ control and begins a new life with Melanie. Rejecting her parents’ final temptation — stolen money — and running toward Melanie symbolizes the rejection of capitalist greed in favor of genuine human connection, completing a narrative of liberation.

Kajillionaire stands as one of Miranda July’s most mature and emotionally resonant works. Beneath its eccentricity lies a universal longing for love and belonging. It is a moving coming-of-age story about an individual breaking free from a destructive family dynamic to rediscover her emotional self. Old Dolio’s liberation leaves the audience reflecting deeply on what truly matters in human connection.

🎯 Personal Rating

💕 Romance Intensity: ♥♥
⭐ Rating: ★★☆