Cinematical

Before the aGLIFF screening of For the Love of Dolly, aGLIFF director Lonny Stern posed a question for the audience to consider while watching the film: "Is Dolly Parton the sweetest, nicest person in the world, or the world's largest enabler?" The answer isn't evident after watching this documentary that examines extreme Dolly Parton fandom. Like many contemporary documentaries, the film selects a few representatives on which to focus, and follows these five different people for a year in their assorted quests to get closer to Dolly.

The five fans all have their different ways of loving Dolly. Harrell and Patric are a couple whose house is stuffed full of Dolly likenesses -- the guys claim they had one bedroom that was off-limits to Dolly paraphernalia for awhile, but "she just crept in." Harrell designs and creates dolls in Dolly's likeness, from stitching the intricate costumes to modeling and painting the faces. Melisa and Jeanette devise new butterfly costumes every year to wear to a big parade featuring Dolly in person. Melisa moved to Nashville so she could keep tabs on Dolly and follow her around, and only takes jobs that allow her a flexible schedule to pursue the singer. Jeanette has built a little cabin based on a sliver of wood she stole from Dollywood, that she calls her "Tennessee Mountain home." The floor is stained with a likeness of Dolly and one of Jeanette's favorite dogs. We see video of Jeanette cleaning off Dolly's Walk-of-Fame star, then covering it in lipsticked kisses. David crochets little flyswatters and other knickknacks for Dolly, and has photos and posters of her plastered all over his bedroom.

Some of these people sound obsessed and silly when I describe them, but director Tai Uhlmann manages to evoke sympathy and compassion rather than ridicule. The subject matter could easily turn the film into a Christopher Guest-style mockumentary, but the fans are never ridiculed. The Austin audience rarely laughed at anyone in the movie, but I occasionally heard a "Cool!" or an understanding noise. (The exception was Melisa's confession that as a child, she wanted to get cancer so she could get in the Make-a-Wish program and meet Dolly that way, which generated some noises of disbelief and disgust.) Without smacking the audience on the head with motivation, the interviews do include revelations about why some of the fans are so fond of Dolly, which helps make them more human in our eyes.

Some of the situations were so bizarre, however, that the audience could not help but laugh -- again, without contempt. The scene in which Melisa and Jeanette test-drive a car that they suspect was owned by Dolly's best friend is side-splitting (although slightly gross at one point), and at the same time, we're pleased for the two young women and their discovery.

For the Love of Dolly is noticeably one-sided. We hear from and about the fans, but Uhlmann did not (or was unable to) interview Dolly Parton. The documentary does include a significant amount of video of Dolly, such as parade footage shot for the film, as well as archival and fan-shot video. One sequence excerpts a speech Dolly made at her fanclub's annual gathering in 1997, in which she gently implied that "things had got out of hand" and disbanded the club. We never find out if specific events triggered this decision, or if Dolly has ever had problematic situations arise with any of her fans. I felt like there was a gap in the film that would have been filled by a candid interview with Dolly about her fans, but we have to settle for the fans' point of view and Dolly's public persona.

Dolly comes across in the film as remarkably gracious and friendly to her fans -- when she sees Jeanette, she asks her about her dogs, and she's happy to accept handmade gifts from David. And yet, this interaction is not enough for some of the fans, who keep wanting more and more and are disappointed that they never get quite enough love from Dolly.

For the Love of Dolly is often unclear about timelines and locations. I would not have known that the documentary footage spanned a year of time if I hadn't read that information on the Web. An establishing shot near the beginning of the movie sets the first scenes in Irving, Texas (near Dallas) but I was unsure whether all the fans except Melisa were located in Irving, or if some lived elsewhere. I couldn't tell if the parade at the beginning and the end of the film was the same one, if we were watching two years of the same parade, or where the parade was located. Fortunately, these minor difficulties didn't detract from the film's focus.

The aGLIFF audience was charmed by For the Love of Dolly, and cheered on the five fans in their quest to get closer to the musician. Despite the lack of input from Dolly herself, the film was a respectful portrait of fandom ... and a chance to enjoy a little Dolly Parton music and her fabulous outfits.