Tully - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Tully

Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score: ​

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Movie

The subject of postpartum depression is NOT something you usually seen in films. Usually the joys of motherhood are followed up with cooing and squealing by friends and family, or the stress of motherhood is just seen as wanting to pull your hair out while your kids scream and yell in the background. Very little is seen of the actual psychological issues that can some women after they have given birth. Personally I’ve watched 2 family members go through severe postpartum depression after birth, while others in my family seem to no have any adverse psychological reactions at all. However, even if it isn’t 100% common for all women, the mental strain can be incredibly painful and stressful to the extreme for the person suffering. Diablo Cody (Juno, Jennifer’s Body) wanted to bring awareness to the situation when she penned Tully, and with the help of Charlize Theron (who she’s worked with before) created a tender and heart wrenching film that really captures the essence of the struggle without being condescending or overly preachy.

Marlo (Charlize Theron) is a mother of two beautiful children, and the bun in her oven is just about to pop out as well. Sadly she’s a bit stressed as her second son Jonah is a special needs child (estimation is some form of autism near the beginning of the film), and her loving husband Drew (Ron Livingston….yes, from Office Space) isn’t much help. He’s swamped with work and unwinds at home by playing a little Xbox before bed, leaving Marlo to cope with the stresses of the day. She’s struggling with depression once more (she had a bad bout of Postpartum just after Jonah was born), Jonah causes INCREDIBLE amounts of stress due to his needs, and the overworked mother is about to pop. When her big brother Craig (Mark Duplass) offers to pay for a night nanny, Marlo is resistant to the idea, but when Jonah pushes her over the edge with his eccentricities, Marlo finally gives in and puts in a call to the night nurse.

What shows up at her door that very nice is a quirky, carefree spirit, calling herself Tully (MacKenzie Davis). A slightly hippieish night nurse that completely takes the stress from the woman’s evening. Instead of staying up all night and taking care of the place, and the midnight feeding sessions, she has Tully to take the load off and is able to sleep. Suddenly she’s perky, awake, and can actually FEEL once more as she and the off beat night nurse begin to form a bond of friendship, and allows the exhausted mother to put her life back together.

Tully is a singularly sweet film, and one that does an incredible job at bonding the audience with the main character. You really feel Marlo’s pain and exhaustion as the smart cuts and the editing of the film really adds a sense of dour exhaustion to the watching experience. Charlize and MacKenzie really sell the film though, as their bonding relationship is the cornerstone of the entire movie. There are some awkward seeming moments, and a really weird bedroom scene that sort of offput me from the film at one point, but there is a MAJOR twist about ¾ of the way through the film that actually clears this up and suddenly jolts the movie in a completely different direction.

I really REALLY want to dissect the meaning of the twist, and what it means for the whole subject of postpartum depression, but I CAN’T! Literally, this is one of those twists that you have to see and experience to appreciate. Any hints or discussion about the twist will will spoil a giant piece to the film and really has me biting my tongue. I would discuss that portion in depth hear, but needless to say it’s rather important and really puts a sense of meaning and empathy with Marlo and her struggle compared to the rest of the film. It also has a darker connotation as well, as it means that her husband Drew was even MORE negligent in his care taking of his wife than was previous shown.




Rating:

Rated R for language and some sexuality/nudity




Video:

Tully is another one of a LONG line of modern films that falls under my “rule of 4”. Meaning 4/5 ratings for both video and audio, as they looks and sound good, but never overly spectacular. I guess it’s a good thing really. Gone are the days where we could have incredibly sporadic quality ranges across the board for home video, as digital cameras consistently are giving off a stable image with, filled with goodly amounts of detail and solid color timing. I guess you could say it’s the new base line standard. Tully continues with this tradition by providing a very clean and stable digital image, with a lightly warm and mildly flat looking image (something inherent to a lot of digital films). Colors lean to the amber and pale blue side of the spectrum, with a light ash gray coating that saturates the entire film. Colors are decently saturated, and primaries pop when appropriate (such as the diner uniform’s yellow, or the blue on Marlo’s denim dress at the beginning). Blacks are solid, but there is one fatal flaw to the image and they tend to show up in the darkness. The infamous color banding. The artifact comes and goes, but is usually seen in darker scenes (such as when the car is under water, or against the dark tan wall of Marlo’s living room at night). It’s not bad, but enough to be easily noticeable when it does show up.





Audio:

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA mix is on par with the video score, as it falls into that “it’s really well done, but nothing overly spectacular” niche. Tully itself is not a wildly demanding film audio wise, so it makes sense that the movie stays up front in the three main speakers for a vast majority of the time. Dialog is full and rich, and the front sound stage is open enough with the sounds of squalling children, screeching car tires, and a few whomps from the score. However, the surround channels do get a decent workout throughout the film as support channels, adding in the sounds of back seat kiddos, the soft score and a few more boisterous moments in the film. The bar where Tully and Marlo go near the end of the film is the most obvious, but the car crash shortly after really gets punchy with the LFE and surrounds. Again, this is not a wild “crash bang!” style action track, but it is quite well done and an evenly balanced dramatic mix with a few loud surprises to boot.






Extras:

• The Relationships of Tully - Featurette

Final Score: ​

Tully may actually be Diablo Cody’s best writing effort yet in my opinion. It’s dark and dour, light and humorous, and incredibly impactful at the same time. It follows a glossed over aspect of the “joys” of motherhood with emotion tenderness. I’m usually not one for this type of drama, but I was enthralled from beginning to end with the quirky little drama. Charlize Theron knocks it out of the park, and really put her heart and soul into the role of Marlo, adding 50 lbs to her own body and really getting the fatigued and strained “aura” of the woman down. Universal’s Blu-ray is generally excellent across the board, although the ever present curse of skimpy extras is still the norm. Highly recommended.



Technical Specifications:

Starring: Charlize Theron, Mackenzie Davis, Mark Duplass, Ron Livingston
Directed by: Jason Reitman
Written by: Diablo Cody
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, French, Spanish DTS 5.1
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Studio: Universal
Rated: R
Runtime: 96 Minutes
Blu-ray Release Date: July 31st, 2018

Image

• Michael Scott
• May 11, 2017

Recommendation: Highly Recommended

 

[JBrax]

I’ve been eyeing this as a rental mostly because I thought my wife would enjoy it. Thanks for the review.

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. Will check it out on amazon prime/netflix.

 

[Jon Liu]

I blind bought this one having only seen the trailer a few times previously. Honestly, I absolutely loved it. I have been a fan of other Diablo Cody movies, like Juno, so I figured I knew what I was getting into, but the movie is not really like what the trailer portrays this to be. The trailer feels more like a comedy, and while there are humorous bits in the film, it is a lot more serious of a tone. Still, postpartum depression hits home for me because a lot of the feelings and emotions I could relate to because of my experiencing it with my wife previously. I loved how raw the movie made me feel. I also absolutely loved Charlize's portrayal. And Mackenzie Davis, she just portrays Tully as such an absolutely lovable individual.

Oddly enough, I watched it without the wife. While I'd love her to see this movie, I think it'd hit a little too close to home and she really doesn't like a whole lot of profanity, so I don't think she'll be able to enjoy the movie really.

 

[Michael Scott]

I blind bought this one having only seen the trailer a few times previously. Honestly, I absolutely loved it. I have been a fan of other Diablo Cody movies, like Juno, so I figured I knew what I was getting into, but the movie is not really like what the trailer portrays this to be. The trailer feels more like a comedy, and while there are humorous bits in the film, it is a lot more serious of a tone. Still, postpartum depression hits home for me because a lot of the feelings and emotions I could relate to because of my experiencing it with my wife previously. I loved how raw the movie made me feel. I also absolutely loved Charlize's portrayal. And Mackenzie Davis, she just portrays Tully as such an absolutely lovable individual.

Oddly enough, I watched it without the wife. While I'd love her to see this movie, I think it'd hit a little too close to home and she really doesn't like a whole lot of profanity, so I don't think she'll be able to enjoy the movie really.

ironically that issue of the trailer making it seem like a comedy was something Diablo Cody was upset about. She got a lot of calls and letters from mothers who have suffered from the condition and complained to her and she publicly came out and said that it was a studio marketing decision for the trailer and she didn't have control over it. I thought it was going to be a comedy too until I started researching it. Still a very good movie.