Dear Sis Dolly: A Modern Look at a Timeless Icon

According to Dear Sis Dolly director Twiggy Matiwana, the filmmakers decided to set the movie in the present day and explore the role Sis Dolly still plays in South Africans’ lives today. The story focuses on a psychologist, Khetiwe (Didintle Khunou), who runs her own community counselling centre in Meadowlands, Soweto. However, keeping a community project like this financially afloat is no easy task, and a few donation tins will not get you very far. Then Khetiwe learns that Drum magazine is looking for a counsellor to become the new Sis Dolly, and she hopes it will give her the opportunity to use the platform to save her beloved centre. But you cannot simply walk into the Drum newsroom and become the new Sis Dolly…

The screenplay reflects sharp wit and humour, and I found myself laughing out loud at several of the clever one-liners. The film’s dialogue is mostly in English, which not only reflects the urban setting in which the story takes place, but also suggests that the filmmakers hope to attract a broader audience.

Johannesburg is filmed and lit so charmingly that even New York’s skyline cannot hold a candle to it. Every frame looks like a colourful page from a glossy magazine and, as the well-worn expression goes, it is truly a feast for the eyes. That is why it is such a shame that the film’s soundtrack detracts from this achievement. There were several scenes in which the actors delivered excellent performances, only for the loud—and often overpowering—music to completely distract me from them.

In terms of acting, I must single out Abigail Kubeka and S’thandiwe Kgoroge. Kubeka, who made her screen debut in the local films Knock-Out (1969) and Joe Bullet (1973), plays the role of Khetiwe’s grandmother with the gravitas befitting such a veteran performer. Kgoroge, meanwhile, proves to Miranda Priestly of The Devil Wears Prada fame that South African magazine editors need not shy away from comparison with their overseas counterparts.

Dear Sis Dolly is enjoyable, light entertainment, yet the filmmakers do not shy away from tackling underlying themes such as complex family relationships and cyberbullying. The film asks: “Do we not all, like Khetiwe, have too many irons in the fire and simply wish to make others proud?” It is unfortunate that a romantic subplot is shoehorned into the story. It feels unnecessary in a narrative that is really about a woman finding her voice.

In a period when South African films have been scarce at the box office, I am willing to overlook this element. In the very year that Huisgenoot bids farewell to its own advice columnist, ‘Ask Irma,’ many of us still long for the nostalgia of days gone by. Have many of us not secretly peeked at the advice of similar aunties? Perhaps, in future, we will have to turn to Sis Dolly ourselves…