Ted Tarnovski's blog

“He gave his word!!”

”That’s not what counts!! It’s who you give it to!!”

Senseless, gratuitous violence without sentimentality. But sentiments are the enemy of ethics, and this movie is very concerned about ethics.

Outlaws may be free, but those motivated by their basest desires will always be reliable pawns for the regimes of power, and so the usual Western battle between Good and Evil is here replaced by the much less inspiring battle between Capital and Autocracy. The film follows world-weary crooks on a demoralizing journey, increasingly emphasizing how empty and meaningless their lives have become, until it finally culminates in an explosion of todestrieb that would inspire Tarantino to make Inglorious Basterds almost half a century later.

It’s notable that throughout the film, Peckinpah turns the lens on the children witnessing and emulating these acts of violence: their innocence is another casualty of the eternal plunder. These men are not only wasting their own lives and killing bystanders, they’re killing the future. This grim, materialistic perspective on the West was reviled upon its release, but it’s finally caught up to the present. This is America.

One critique of contemporary mainstream cinema is that movies of the current era cannot or will not depict desire. Superhero blockbusters lack any real emotional depth or deeper motivation. 80s reboots lack the gritty pathos that defined the originals. Even auteur films such as Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster or David Lowery’s Green Knight left me cold due to their shallow depiction of human love and desire. Miranda July is frequently derided by critics as being a quirky New Age performance artist rather than a serious filmmaker. Personally, I think July’s work is phenomenal, offering an incisive critique of contemporary society and the new types of loneliness inflicted upon us at every turn. Admittedly, the upbeat tone of her films really must be approached with trust and sincerity. She has at least this much in common with David Lynch, whose works (Wild At Heart, Fire Walk With Me) were often dismissed on arrival by critics who found them to be at once too sardonic and too naive. Kajillionaire is both a queer love story and a savage attack on cynicism. The fear-driven, smug ignorance of Old Dolio’s parents goes to show what happens when you let the system get to you. Their total refusal of modern life is visibly permeated with the very repression and anxiety they think they’re escaping. The pink, dreamy soap bubbles seeping in through their wall seem a clear sign: In life, there is something that simply cannot be kept out, or held in. This is what’s called desire.

“Do you think my father could have branded me with hot irons on the genitals the way he did if he could not put Science and Progress first!?”

This movie exceeded my expectations in many ways. I strongly dislike some of Yorgos Lanthimos’ movies (The Lobster, Killing of a Sacred Deer) and love others (The Favourite, Dogtooth). His unique satirical edge finds it’s most effective application to date in this fantasy odyssey which pits an otherworldly developing mind against a world of normativity. It earns every minute of it’s 141 minute runtime with gorgeous, colorful set pieces reminiscent of Terry Gilliam in his prime. Although full of sexually graphic scenarios, the film is not at all erotic but instead a ceaseless philosophical inquiry. Delightful, if you can stomach it.

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