Seeking Dolly Parton (2015) Poster

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3/10
At 1 hr 38 min, this is just about 1 hr too long
av_m12 November 2023
Whew - this one is a slog to sit thru.

Wonder if we'll ever move thru this tedious millennial generation of upper middle suburban kids thinking they can make "gritty" real-life films just because the parents footed the bill for them 1) to go to film school and 2) mount their first "indie".

The narrative on this one is thin - the self-induced and fixated upon angst of "alternative of lifestyle" challenges. I think the suburban film school kids thing this is cutting edge stuff - or else they're $$$ cunning enough to ride "The L Word" wave" for as long as it curls.

Of course the "cinematography" is very studied - the director seems to have quite the penchant for placing the actors to either the far left or far right of the screen frame - it's interesting the first couple of times, but after dozens and dozens of instances of the techniques it get more than a little predictable.

And, of course, again de rigeur for the well-heeled film school suburban kid, there's lots of "gritty" settings of down and out dusty small towns and urban laundromats and 10-table "cool" neighborhood eating parlors. Ahh, yawn ...

And, of course, even the characters are supposedly very edgey independent gals, there's the intrusion of the unwitting affluent suburban parents - always the parents - in a showcased scene.

Well, by now, you must have the drift of my assessment of this thing - it's awful, it's boring, it's just so bourgeoise.

And, btw, the music is awful and edited in with atrocious awkwardness - the the dialogue, which I fear, is much ad libbed is banal par excellence.

There it is. :-)
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8/10
Seek this out
terriwilsoninfo15 April 2016
Warning: Spoilers
"Seeking Dolly Parton" is the story of a lesbian couple — "Charlie" (Kacey Barnfield) and "Cerina" (Anya Monzikova) — who yearn to have a baby together. For whatever reasons, they do not want to venture down the adoption or anonymous sperm donor route, opting instead for asking "Jon" (Raffaello Degruttola), a close gay friend of theirs, to be the father of their baby. When this plan does not work out, they turn their attentions to Cerina's ex-boyfriend, "Josh" (Michael Worth). Not sure how he feels about this proposal — and honestly, not all that sure what feelings he still has for Cerina — Josh moves in with them, making for an awkward and unlikely trio of would-be parents. It is at this point that you could be forgiven if you think the film is going to take the tried-and-true journey down the path of is-she-or-isn't-she or which-one-does-she-truly-love.

But it doesn't.

Written and directed by Worth, the film is both an emotional and intellectual examination of people unable to move past an event or an idea or even a person. Nearly every character in the film finds themselves "stuck" in some part of their life. Charlie is haunted by images of a place she may have visited with her father, who died when she was very young, and cannot move on with her art because of it. Josh cannot get over the hurt of breaking up with Cerina, leaving his life in a kind of day-to-day mundane existence. Even Jon cannot come to grips with publicly acknowledging that he is gay which makes the likelihood of his finding his own chance at love slimmer and slimmer.

The natural ebb and flow of the conversations have a very John Cassavetes feel to them, and I cannot close without pointing out Chia-Yu Chen's beautiful cinematography. I have said before that Worth's films have an inherent sweetness to them. A love of life and of people. And that is definitely here in "Seeking Dolly Parton."
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10/10
Excellent
intrvw9 December 2019
A very good story of love and finding truth with a great cast and excellent directing. Very good acting.
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Story Okay, but female dialogue mumbled...
max_baker-554183 June 2023
I gave this movie some minor attention. But it was only a second choice when "Devil Doll'-1964 was in a commercial break on Friday Night Frights. The title caught my interest, but there was no mention of the reference in the other two reviews, so I may have missed what the story had to do with Dolly Parton when I surfed back to the other channel. The subject matter of the film (lesbians looking for a sperm donor from a homeless gay ex) a little far-fetched unless you live in San Francisco, was not something I was at all interested in sitting through. Perhaps if I were younger, it might have captured my interest, but I couldn't get past the mumbling dialogue and several contrived acting scenes by all cast members. I have phenomenal hearing too, so it wasn't me. Perhaps it was a lousy sound engineer. There was also no captioning available. Not worth finishing in my opinion based on all of the above detractors.
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