Doll It Up (2018) Love With Plastic is Fantastic – Not

Doll It Up could have been called “Living Doll,” or “Love With Plastic is Fantastic – Not.” Written and directed by Yalan Hu, this is a short tale, around 7 minutes, of love and pain…and latex, it is funny. There is also some drama, but really only when one looks closely at the whole relationship vibe that Gunther exudes.

Twice.

Synopsis

Gunther (played to hilarious perfection by Timothy J Cox) is attempting to celebrate his three year anniversary with Natalie. While he eats, Gunther expresses his dissatisfaction with their relationship. After dinner ends, the “couple” engage in the bedroom. It is an unsatisfactory end to their evening, or at the very least, to Gunther’s.

He decides to find a new wife and discards Natalie like yesterday’s plastic grocery bag. Sadly, his ex seemingly has no intention of leaving Gunther. His new wife, also proves to be less than he had imagined.

Imagination

It is clear that Gunther has what can be termed as an overactive imagination. Or, conversely, someone with a few screws loose. Once his new mail-order wife arrives, he is insulted when the postman makes lewd remarks about his package.

This is a brilliantly imagined world where a number of men have issues with real women and relationships. Hu seems to be making a humorous point here. In this world we live in, sex has become a tenuous thing. What with gender issues becoming the norm and people turning to a more insular lifestyle, starting a relationship with a real man/woman is darned difficult.

Having a plastic/latex doll as a wife/girlfriend may just be the answer to marital bliss.

However.

It would take more than imagination to make this work. Perhaps, just perhaps, mind you, having a few screws loose would help to embrace this cold girlfriend/lover/wife.

If we look at Hu’s story here she seems to be saying most, if not all, men prefer a silent partner when it comes to sex.

Those Eyes

Not too unlike the late ’80s comedy Weekend at Bernies (A brilliant film where two guys struggle to make everyone believe that their dead boss is alive. Each shot of the dead man’s face appears to be showing a different expression.) Just as each shot of the doll’s face shows changes in their eyes. Those dolls, have really expressive eyes.

When Gunther is telling off his doll/wife her eyes look annoyed or disapproving. Her head is also slanted to left, ever so slightly. This gives us the impression that Natalie is listening to her “husband’s” unkind words.

After Gunther gets his doll divorce, his new mail order bride also has these, knowing eyes. Eyes that seem to promise so much.

comedy

The comedy in this short film is spot on. The moments where Natalie returns attempting to wreak havoc and destroy Gunther’s new relationship are excellent. This is funny.

Of course the comedy would not work if any of the crew let the side down. Thankfully, this did not happen in Doll It Up. Bailey Liu as cinematographer did an admirable job of keeping the shots tight where they needed to be.Yue Zhao as editor pieced everything together masterfully.

In fact, all of the “behind the scenes folks” did their bit to make the comedic pacing work.

Wrapping this doll up

Doll It Up is a 4.5 star short film. Hu and company deliver some brilliant stuff here. In terms of sexual content, there are two low key sex scenes. No nudity and the dialogue does not contain any “adult” language.

Hu has delivered the goods here and the film is worth checking out. Doll It Up is streaming on Vimeo.