LA
TIMES MOVIE REVIEW, November 1, 2002
TULLY --A QUIETLY IMPRESSIVE SLICE OF SMALL TOWN
LIFE
By Kenneth Turan, Times Staff Writer
"I
don't like thinking of people as types," says one of the
characters in "Tully," director and co-writer Hilary
Birmingham's impressive debut film. "I think it's lazy.
I believe people can surprise you."
"Tully" does just that. Its passion for character,
its respect for the lives of the people it puts on screen, and
its quiet, measured pace make it something of an anomaly in
the independent world. It's a film that does quite nicely without
either flashy nihilism or hip-hop angst.
"Tully's" deliberate speed goes hand in hand with
its unmistakable sense of place, its attraction to the rhythms
of farm life and the unhurried sensibility of its small-town
Nebraska setting.
But don't mistake "Tully's" quietness for lack of
ambition or nerve. Convincingly acted across the board, it's
a film with a lot on its mind, a story whose crises slowly gain
in intensity, gathering like threatening storm clouds on an
initially clear horizon.
"Tully's" screenplay, adapted by Matt Drake and the
director from an O. Henry Prize-winning short story by Tom McNeal,
deals with young people who arrive all unsuspecting at a crossroads
in their lives, who are searching for their place in the order
of things while having to come to terms with the past and what
the past has made of them.
Just like its characters, "Tully" has had a tough
time of it in the world. Originally sold at the Toronto Film
Festival in 2000, the film has had to weather the collapse of
two companies that tried to release it, and has changed its
title from "The Truth About Tully" when Jonathan Demme's
"The Truth About Charlie" materialized at roughly
the same moment. But, if anything, the passage of time has made
this film seem a scarcer and more valuable commodity.
There are two Tullys in this film, but the one who's center
stage is Tully Coates Jr. Recently out of school and supposed
to be helping his father with the family farm, Tully (seductively
played by Anson Mount) is more interested in enjoying the company
of women. A lot of women.
With his classic good looks and Joe Namath smirk, Tully, much
to the chagrin of his sensitive younger brother, Earl (Glenn
Fitzgerald), is very much the rural Lothario. He even hooks
up with local femme fatale April Reece (a dead-on Catherine
Kellner), an exotic dancer with a strong possessive streak.
But although Tully has the smile of someone who thinks he's
got it all, the reverse is true. Not that Tully's a bad guy
(his continual womanizing notwithstanding), but he is more of
a naif than he wants to admit. And he has no understanding of
the nature of relationships, something that, given his upbringing,
is not a surprise.
Both boys have been raised by their hard-nosed father, Tully
Coates Sr. (a powerful Bob Burrus), since the day 15 years ago
when he told them their mother was dead. The senior Tully looks
as if he hasn't laughed since that day, and, destroyed by the
weight of his cares, he has an abrasive, rubbed-raw relationship
with his frivolous older son.
Bringing additional and unexpected tensions to this world are
a pair of new situations, one financial, the other emotional.
Tully Sr. gets a letter saying a lien has been placed on his
farm, with a devastating foreclosure the likely result. He has
no idea why the lien is there, and the eventual resolution of
that mystery involves the unearthing of disturbing family secrets.
More human, and more involving, is the tentative relationship
that starts to form between the younger Tully and the only woman
in town who seems to be oblivious to his allure, and who in
fact says things like "I don't get it. What the big attraction
is is beyond me."
That would be smart, redheaded Ella Smalley (Julianne Nicholson
in a charming role), a friend of brother Earl's who's training
to be a veterinarian and who has the most levelheaded attitude
of anyone in the picture.
Slowly, warily, because each is definitely not the other's type,
Tully and Ella start to spend more time together. He tells her,
"I'm not as dangerous as I look," and she teases him
with an arch "What's it like to drive women crazy?"
But it's a mark of the film's sophistication that it's not clear
whether her attitude masks a genuine interest or if Tully's
reflexive pursuit of her is the sign of something more lasting.
Although this is director Birmingham's first feature (her background
includes a stint as director of development for documentary
director Barbara Kopple), she has a very sure sense of what
she wants out of her cast and the ability to put it on screen.
"Tully" may go against the grain of hipness, but that
proves to be very much of a blessing.
