Do You Remember Dolly Bell? is a sweet and good natured coming of age tale which lands around about half way between attempting to get across a really well intended and light hearted story of early adulthood with an atmosphere of a 'universal' kind with a downtrodden, gangster infused, less-than-well-off and quite scary feel about things. Then-first time Yugoslavian director Emir Kusturica spends the best part of the piece looking at the thematic ideas of growing up and first interactions with the opposite sex twinned with what it is to assert yourself; grow a sense of individualism; as well as find one's interests and general form. These ideas are bitten off with the intent to chew them all up real good, but everything sort of falls half way between this light-hearted study of adolescence and heavy study of harsh realities of living in the time and place it's set.
Kusturica is setting out to tell a tale of coming of age; his lead is a young boy of whom it is established is observant of the world around him, and I think this observant nature is a recent characteristic of his persona. He watches films within this film, the piece constructing his gaze at the images on the screen in the local viewing theatre accordingly; his interest in items of a political nature are got across when he talks with his father about Communist merits and there is certainly that general sense he's forming his own identity as skills and interests in playing a musical instrument and learning a mite of a foreign language (Italian, in this case) is put across in a few scenes that advance the character as an individual more-so the film overall. Indeed, the recurring line the lead merrily sings, namely "Everyday, I'm getting better in every way" enforces the transition.
The lead is a certain Dino (timac), a young man whom hangs out with his friends as they smoke and drink while suffering through one another's tired, false stories of how they've interacted in certain ways with girls in recent days. Of the friends he has, the most prominent is a taller boy named Marbles. Things get complicated when some shady local individuals want Dino to hide a call girl for them, something Dino accepts and goes on to stow her away in a barn-come-bird hutch of some description located within his house's grounds, to the rest of his families unbeknownst. The girl is the one of the title, a certain Dolly Bell (Blagojevic). Of his family, it's established that a pretty ordinary evening with them consists of sitting around a table as talk of exactly what it was they did during their day is instigated by the father. To the side of them as they all sit around opposite one another is a leak in the roof as the rain pours down, a metaphorical seeping through the blockade as Dino, his sister and the rest of them admit to feelings and desires which are seeping through their minds and coming out as an expression of intent.
In Do You Remember Dolly Bell?, you have an idea or a premise – the notion that specific content I find quite interesting is playing out. So why is it the film felt as underwhelming as it was? It feels inconsistent, too often opting for unnecessary and somewhat kooky content which frustrates more than it does either add to the character study unfolding in front of us or make us laugh; if we've seen the band play that somewhat annoying song once or twice, we don't need it an extended third time. This, and a rather bizarre trip to some relatives, as an entire sub-plot revolving around some local council bigwigs and their want want to hire Dino, the boys and their band to play for other local youngsters, quite frankly, could have been entirely scrapped. The film additionally carries an upbeat tone, something that doesn't entirely sit – there's a real lack of threat, which is especially odd given what's at stake with his family, the hidden girl and the local criminals. Certain revelations do unravel, but they carry very little dramatic weight and fizzle out as they play out.
Compared to another film of this ilk from around the time, namely Bill Forsyth's Gregory's Girl, Do You Remember Dolly Bell? plods along and feels unconcentrated as the USP around which the coming of age study is played out gets shoved towards the back and forgotten about. I also think Kusturica wants to raise awareness of times gone by, indeed life at a time when living in Yugoslavia may well have been less glamorous than it might have been in the then modern day when the film was produced. Is there a specific reason the film is set in the early 1960s – a whole two decades prior to the film's production? This comes across as somewhat needless, as if the director is attempting to get across the idea that coming-of-age and growing up in all walks of life, regardless of nation; nationality; conditions or time, is the same. The basing of this tale so far back in the then-twenty years ago past acts as a trigger designed to evoke a faux sense of nostalgia, a sense that it unfolds in the past and the subject matter playing out most certainly happened to the designated audience in the past. While I haven't seen any of the director's other films, I'm informed that he's gone on to have quite a career; cracking the American scene and making some rather acclaimed films. Do You Remember Dolly Bell? is a calling card; a clear and relatively well executed demonstration that he can handle the subject matter which he only really renders ever-so slightly interesting.
