Soundtracking: Dumplin'
Wednesday, January 9, 2019 at 12:30PM by Chris Feil
Much to our surprise when Dumplin’ arrived on Netflix last month, the film is stealthily a Dolly Parton jukebox musical. The heartwarming film is a collection of Dolly songs old, new, and (crucially) reimagined, shot straight out of the heart of its heroine. Add in a few appearances by drag queens, and the film is the kind of unassumingly big-hearted self-love anthem to make the music legend proud.
And its no mere cashing in on a famous songbook either - Dolly’s music anchors the emotional backbone of the film...
Danielle Macdonald’s Willowdean “don’t call her Dumplin’!) is a Dolly fanatic, a fandom passed down from her doting aunt Lucy along with valuable life-advice quotables that sound like they originated from the legend herself. After Lucy passes, Willowdean pursues Lucy’s unrealized ambitions to participate in the teen beauty pageants once dominated (and now overseen) by Willowdean’s mother, Jennifer Aniston’s Rosie.
While Lucy’s imparting of the legacy of Dolly onto Willowdean speaks to the way we transfer our own support systems onto those we care for, our hero’s commitment to her music is the happiest of ghosts as well. We see the impact of the singer and her philosophies as much in Lucy as we do the protagonist - her wit packaged into a catchphrase, her triumph over others’ disdain, all reflected in the grace and wisdom of the character. Dolly is like Lucy’s life coach, and girl: same. When Willowdean revisits the music, she is communing with both her idols.
It’s not through obsessive practices like Willowdean and Lucy’s Dolly Parties that Dumplin’ honors the stature of what Dolly has created (though, seriously, Dolly Parties? How can I get invited?!). It’s that it does so in a story that uplifts outsiders and allows them to show themselves in unexpected ways. And to push forward past heartaches. In some ways, Dolly’s adjacency elevates the film’s slightness. That’s the power of a Dolly Parton song: it makes a humble heart triumph earnestly and honestly.
While her music has always had one foot in the cinema, we haven’t yet had a film that feels like it thrives primarily from her music. “9 to 5” is the pinnacle of iconography but its film only uses it as prologue. The Bodyguard famously reimagined “I Will Always Love You” for Whitney Houston’s voice. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas is a starring vehicle, but not her songs. Rhinestone is... well, it’s Rhinestone. Dumplin’ however quietly rectifies this - it fangirls over her music while repurposing it, and lives the uplifting message she has given us for decades.
Dolly’s Oscar legacy remains unrewarded, though both of nominated songs (“9 to 5” and Transamerica’s “Travelin’ Thru”) would have been as worthy as their winners (“Fame” and “It’s Hard Out Here For A Pimp”). So while there is tougher competition for the Original Song Oscar this year, we can hope that Dumplin’s “Girl in the Movies” can also make the lineup to represent that movie that also does the legend justice.
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Reader Comments (4)
Dolly Parton is our greatest living lyricist. It's a damn shame she didn't win for Transamerica, as (while it was cool that it won since it was so outside Oscar's comfort zone), "It's Hard Out Here for a Pimp" isn't a particularly good song.
I would love Dolly to be up there one day, but I'll stick up for Pimp. I love it when a song is actually integral to a film's narrative rather than tacked on to credits. The extended sequence with Taraji struggling to record is really choice in Hustle & Flow.
Netflix are probably really regretting not campaigning for Jennifer Aniston in Supporting Actress this year... she has the perfect narrative, the film is great and her performance is excellent. A missed opportunity.
One of the worst movies I saw last year. You guys are mad.