TULLY: Drama. Starring Anson Mount,
Julianne Nicholson, Glenn Fitzgerald and Bob Burrus. Directed
and written by Hilary Birmingham.
(Not
rated. 102 minutes. At Bay Area theaters.)
There's a scene in "Tully" where the camera zeroes
in on a couple as they cuddle and talk atop the hood of a car.
The couple talk, the camera lingers. They talk some more, the
camera lingers some more. Nothing happens and everything happens.
That's what's exceptional about this movie. It's a sensitive,
intimate portrait of life on a Nebraska farm -- a portrait that
stays with conversations as they unfold, stays with scenes as
they progress naturally and stays with small moments that turn
into poetry both beautiful and sad.
In "Tully," a father and his two sons run an old farm.
The elder son, Tully Coates Jr. (Anson Mount), is loyal to his
duties on the ranch but a bit estranged from his dad (Bob Burrus),
while the youngest son, Earl (Glenn Fitzgerald), connects more
to the land and a father who still hasn't recovered from the
death of his wife years earlier.
Earl is shy and somewhat reserved, while Tully is more athletic,
more handsome and more of a lady's man. They both like a neighbor
named Ella (Julianne Nicholson), a straight-talking, freckle-faced
veterinary student who takes a chance and gets involved with
Tully. In the meantime, a bank threatens to foreclose on the
farm because of sudden debts that have mysteriously appeared.
Tully's father has kept a secret that threatens to divide the
family even more.
"Tully"
doesn't need cinematic tricks to deliver a powerful story. The
truths come out slowly but surely, and when they do, the impact
is huge. The last time a movie touched this well on family life
in small-town America was "You Can Count on Me," which
proved there was an audience for independent films that were
smartly made, well-acted and as much about the interior lives
of characters as the exterior.
"Tully"
has the bonus of being a visual treat. Under first-time director
Hilary Birmingham, the skies over Nebraska and the expanse of
farmland look like majestic paintings. It's easy to imagine
why Ella and the Coates family would want to live in Nebraska
for the rest of their lives -- despite the complaints of one
character who works as a exotic dancer and sees most of the
townspeople as uneducated, backward hicks.
Nicholson, Mount, Burrus and Fitzgerald deliver memorable performances.
Nicholson and Mount are especially good. At the time that they
made this film (more than two years ago), they were professional
unknowns, and they still are not household names, but a gem
like this should catapult them into more rarefied territory.
Likewise for Birmingham, who formerly worked with documentary
filmmaker Barbara Kopple and whose background (master's degree
in English literature from Georgetown University) prepared her
for this material, which is based on a short story by Tom McNeal.
"Tully,"
after winning raves at the 2000 Toronto International Film Festival,
has suffered theatrical delays as distribution deals fell through,
but its release today is good news for all those who like their
dramas to treat their subject matter -- and audience -- with
respect and dignity.
–
Jonathan Curiel
(c)2002
San Francisco Chronicle. Page D - 5
http://www.sfgate.com/cgibin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/
archive/2002/11/08/DD183580.DTL
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