[wpdevart_youtube]e5D3O4yCmCg[/wpdevart_youtube]
TULLY
***
Dir: Jason Reitman
Starring: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass
(USA, 15, 1hr 36 mins)
Reteaming for the third time with screenwriter Diablo Cody, director Jason Reitman pulls off another heartfelt offbeat comedy-drama, following on with aplomb from Juno and Young Adult.
Juno had a teenager dealing with pregnancy and Young Adult focused on a desperate woman returning to her hometown; this marries them both as Charlize Theron struggles with her sanity and her new child. Theron plays Marlo, stuck in a stale marriage with a special-needs son, a young daughter and a lazy husband. The birth of her third child brings more problems. She’s overweight and depressed – her brother played by Mark Duplass eventually convinces her to let him pay for a night nanny to help her through for a month.
This is the titular Tully played with winning exuberance by Mackenzie Davis. The trials of parenthood are grimly captured as Theron deals with her other demanding offspring on top of her newborn, leading to a very raw breakdown. Tully’s intervention in her life is wondrous – a Mary Poppins sort, a nanny who reawakens Theron, shakes up her marriage and extols the virtues of parenthood. Theron seethes with need and want: her career has been put on hold with the childen, whilst her feckless husband (played by Ron Livingston) is perpetually on the Playstation and critcises the frozen pizzas she can barely cook. Parenting is hard.
Tully is all bare midriff and youthful condescension, but she offers something more than just a few hours extra sleep. Tully begins as a bitterly truthful snapshot of the worst aspects of parenting and ends as something more hopeful. It’s a well observed scabrous ride courtesy of Diablo Cody’s wordsmithery. Although it occasionally veers into something approaching schmaltz, it’s far too clever to offer easy answers. Theron is excellent as the put-upon mother, struggling with losing her looks, her sanity and her purpose and Reitman’s direction allows the often unlikely twists and turns to hit home.
words KEIRON SELF
Out from May 4 in cinemas.