Doll It Up (2018) - Short Film Review

Whether it’s a side effect of the Uncanny Valley, or the way that certain taboos are processed in the mind, but films involving blow-up dolls always have a certain… effect to them. One where fits of nervous giggling aren’t out of the ordinary, because while the existence of these dolls and their use is just another colour on the modern relationship wheel, the public acceptance of such things remains murky at best. It’s just… weird when seen outside the context of a bedroom.

And with this short, primarily featuring Timothy J. Cox from Miss Freelance as a man living with a blow-up doll wife, the open displays (and arguments) of their relationship brings up similar facets to Miss Freelance in regards to examining relationships. It plays out like what prolonged relationships have become recognised for in regard to cinema: Complacency that gives way to the want to trade in for the newer model, here taken quite literally with Cox’s Gunther ordering a second doll to replace his current one.

But as other humans get more involved, like two moments with Devin Craig’s Delivery Guy as well as an altercation with a hobo played by Wayne DeBary, it highlights another aspect of cinematic romance that gives a rather depressing undercurrent to what we’re seeing: Women as possessive objects in relationships. The things that are meant to be won, to be acquired, to be the central point of arguments between men.

In the space of 6 minutes, it manages to turn quite a few rom-com tropes right on their heads, showing how the romantic norm for cinematic stories ends up invalidating the agency of the women involved. Yeah, this one involves blow-up dolls, but the attitudes and actions taken by the men who have them on-screen echo very real and, in the realms of cinema, very annoying trends between flesh-and-blood people.