Summary
This seriously fun throwback to a certain era of Australian comedies is also a character-led showcase for Krew Boylan’s talents.
There is something comforting about the presence Dolly Parton in the world. From her staple appearances in holiday specials to her role in funding Covid vaccine research, she is an international treasure who must be protected at all costs. There is only one Dolly.
This is something filmmaker Gracie Otto innately understands in her follow-up to music documentary Under the Volcano. In this fictional tale, she teams up with writer Krew Boylan to follow the misguided adventures of a redhead (played by Boylan) that everyone just calls Red. Viewed as the office clown by her real estate firm, she decides to pursue a career as a Dolly Parton impersonator after being let go from her nine to five.
Following a brief liaison with an Elvis impersonator (Rose Byrne), Red starts engaging in a romance with a Kenny Rogers impersonator (Daniel Webber). Soon the lines between performance and lifestyle start to blur, living her life as Dolly on and off the stage. As she finds more success than every before, she begins to ask herself if she is still running away from reality.
In many ways, SERIOUSLY RED feels like a throwback to the jukebox Australian comedies of the early to mid 90s — think Muriel’s Wedding or Priscilla — going for mass appeal through familiar songs but essentially having a heart of gold thanks to these offbeat characters. Yet Boylan’s script is a little bit more canny than this, and it’s no accident that she has given herself this deceptively complex character of Red to play with. It’s almost the afterparty (or maybe even the morning after) for those earlier films, stripping back the party façade and realising these humans still have to do something with their lives later.
Otto weaves some wonderful non sequitur moments into the drama, adding to the notion that Red is not quite facing up to reality. Case in point: there’s a fantasy musical sequence during breast enlargement surgery is quite hilarious, especially being set to Dolly’s 1972 single ‘Touch Your Woman.’ Plus, if you’ve ever wanted to see some Dolly/Kenny slashfic, then boy does this film have some scenes for you.
Boylan plays Red/Dolly with equal bits pathos and straight-up comedy. It’s also an incredibly brave performance, quite literally giving it all to the cameras in this singular character study. Bobby Cannavale plays against type as a loveable sleaze, a former Neil Diamond impersonator turned tour manager. Webber might be more Tim Rogers than Kenny Rogers, but as the film goes on you might even find yourself convinced that he is, in fact, an island in the stream. Of course, it’s an almost unrecognisable Rose Byrne as an Elvis impersonator — gyrating on stage and later eating in depression — that is worth the price of admission.
At its heart, Otto and Boylan’s film is about discovering your authentic self. After a couple of years of uncertainty and angst, this is the kind of perfect comfort food and reassurance that we probably all need right now. More than that, SERIOUSLY RED is just seriously fun.
2022 | Australia | DIRECTOR: Gracie Otto | WRITER: Krew Boylan | CAST: Rose Byrne, Krew Boylan, Bobby Cannavale, Daniel Webber, Celeste Barber, Thomas Campbell | DISTRIBUTOR: Arclight Films, SXSW 2022 | RUNNING TIME: 94 minutes | RELEASE DATE: 11-20 March 2022 (SXSW)
