Tully
Directed by Jason Reitman
- comedy
- drama
The story
Marlo, a mother of three, including a newborn, is gifted a night nanny by her brother. Hesitant at first, she quickly forms a bond with the thoughtful, surprising, and sometimes challenging nanny named Tully.
What it’s like
Tired, lived-in domestic light: kitchen fluorescents, dim nursery lamps, and the grey-blue glow of pre-dawn windows, shot with a loose, observational camera that stays close to a worn-out body in a cluttered suburban house. The palette is muted and warm rather than glossy, and the night scenes feel hushed, with the quiet hum of a baby monitor doing much of the work. The score is spare and gentle, mostly soft piano under long stretches of ordinary sound. The vibe is wry melancholy with flashes of dark, deadpan comedy, the sort of film that suits a late-night watch alone or a slow weekend when you want something honest and a little bittersweet. It moves at a conversational pace, and its central figure softens and opens up over the course of the story, moving from guarded exhaustion toward a messier, more candid sense of connection. Intensity is low: no violence, some crude humour and frank talk about sex, drinking and mental health, and emotional rather than physical sharpness. It is for viewers who want a grounded, funny, unsentimental portrait of parenthood and friendship.
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