Tully

First Hit: I was genuinely surprised by the ending of this powerful film about motherhood.

Marlo (Charlize Theron) is 9 months pregnant, mother of two other children Emmy (Maddie Dixon-Poirer) and Jonah (Asher Miles Fallica), and wife to Craig (Mark Duplass). The family home is rather chaotic and stems, in-part, because of Jonah’s “quirky” presence and because motherhood has wiped her out and taken her spirit.

Craig is a good husband, it is apparent that he loves his wife and does support the family process by doing their children’s homework with them and helping Marlo to make the children’s lunches. There is a scene towards the end of the film that shows this sweetness and togetherness.

Marlo’s brother Drew (Ron Livingston) has made it financially and as his new baby gift to his sister offers to pay for a night nanny to assist his worn-out sister.

She resists because she perceives that this will show weakness and a lack of ability. After the new baby arrives, her worn out life gets worse and there is little she can do given the pressure of Jonah’s school is asking her to remove Jonah because of his “quirky” behavior, along with trying to meet the new baby’s needs.

She resigns herself to making the call to a night nanny. Tully (Mackenzie Davis) arrives one evening with a bright open smile, lots of empathy, and skills far beyond her age of 26. Each evening Tully arrives and takes over the care of the new baby Mia. She brings Mia up to Marlo for the night feedings, sits and watches until the feeding is complete, and takes Mia back downstairs.

Tully, also cleans the house, bakes cupcakes and does lots of other things that release Marlo from the heaviness of raising a newborn at night. Because she’s now getting sleep, Marlo becomes more present and active with her children and starts to make elaborate meals for her family instead of the “frozen pizza” dinner she often throws down.

Tully and Marlo become friends and what they share together slowly reveals who Marlo is, who Tully is, and Marlo's love for Craig.

This film speaks directly and pointedly to the difficulties many women have being a mother. For this alone, many men need to see this film.

Theron is dynamic in this role. Not only did she put on about fifty pounds to make the role feel real for her and the audience, her embodiment of the frustration of raising children was spot on. Davis as Tully was amazing. I loved her joyful embrace of being an empathetic, smart, supportive nanny. Duplass was very good as the caring loving husband who needed to learn more about helping his wife. Dixon-Poirer was wonderful as the daughter. Her slow emerging as part of the family was great. Fallica was excellent as the quirky young boy. His ability to slowly evolve as Marlo evolves was perfect. Diablo Cody wrote an excellent script and the film’s direction by Jason Reitman made this story come alive through great acting.

Overall: I was truly moved by the representation of motherhood, family, and life as this film unfolded.

Lucky

First Hit:  Some insightful views of life from someone who’s over 90 years old.

Having a mom who is over 94 and going strong, bless her, I was interested in how Harry Dean Stanton who is 91 would play Lucky.

Additionally, it would be interesting to see how this 90+ year old character would be portrayed.  Like her, there were behavior traits that reminded me of her; like his doing exercises in his living room and taking long walks. Both of those things keep my mom going as it did Lucky.

Lucky has smoked all his life, is an atheist and has developed a philosophy of holding his own, even if out matched. Like getting into an argument with a lawyer 50 years his junior and squaring off to get into some fisticuffs with him.

Getting up each morning, Lucky turns on the radio to a Spanish/Mexican station that plays mariachi music, lights a cigarette, washes himself in the sink, exercises (hybrid yoga positions), drinks a large glass of milk, and makes coffee.

His day is getting dressed, walking to town, going to a diner where he gets coffee talks with the owner Joe (Barry Shabaka Henley) and waitress Loretta (Yvonne Huff) and works on a crossword puzzle. Leaving he walks around town, stops in-front of a building (we don’t see the sign until near the end of the film) and yells “cunts”, walks into the local store to buy milk and cigarettes and heads back home to watch “his programs” on TV.

Occasionally he calls an unidentified friend on the phone and asks him for help on a crossword hint or to tell him some small story about a remembrance. In the evening, he walks to a local bar where he gets a Bloody Mary drink and waits for his friend Howard (David Lynch) to come in. Noticing that Howard is down, Lucky reaches out and discovers that Howard’s tortoise (President Roosevelt) has escaped.

One morning while making coffee, he falls. Visiting Dr. Christian Kneedler (Ed Begley Jr.), they cannot figure out why he fell, but most in the audience has an idea, he stared at the blinking "12:00” on his coffee maker and probably had a mild seizure. This was my guess because, I had a larger grand mal seizure in 1996 and didn’t recall the reason. My only recollection was the sunlight flashing (like the blinking of the light on the coffee machine) in my eyes through the leaves caused my brain to seize up. Anyway, the talk Lucky has with the doctor is hilarious. Filled with philosophical beliefs and reasons for living or not.

During the days and evenings where we watch his life unfold we get glimpses of his belief structure like; we are born alone and die alone. There is no God. What we’ve got is now and there is no future.

There are truly touching moments in the film. One was all of a sudden he begins singing at a young boy's birthday party.  Or, Howard's thoughts on how President Roosevelt escaped from the yard: “He must have been planning it for a long time to figure out how to time getting out of the gate at a particular moment.” And when you see the sign on the building and figure out why he yells out “cunts” every morning.

Although the film has a slow pace, it works really well, and is wonderfully acted.

Stanton, at 91, is perfect for the part. Having been a character actor in over 100 films, he’s just perfect as this guy named Lucky. His smile at the camera, at the end of the film, is spot on. Lynch is wonderful as Howard the grieving owner of President Roosevelt. His touching story about how Roosevelt carries his coffin on his back for his whole life, is deeply touching. Ron Livingston as lawyer Bobby Lawrence is wonderful. I liked how he eventually tells his story of fear. Begley Jr. is wonderful as the doctor. Tom Skerritt as Fred a strange Lucky has a conversation is great. Nothing like two guys talking about a shared experience. Henley is fantastic as the café owner. His thoughtfulness and reminders that Lucky cannot smoke in his café were funny. Huff was fantastic as the waitress who cared enough to stop by Lucky’s home to find out if he was OK. When she stayed to watch a TV show with him, it was sweet. Logan Sparks and Drago Sumonja wrote an expressive and real life script. John Carroll Lynch did a great job of directing this screenplay and story. It felt very real.

Overall:  I really enjoyed this slice of real life.

Drinking Buddies

First Hit:  Better than expected film about an alcoholic comfort zone and relationships.

Kate (Olivia Wilde) likes her independence. She chooses when to see and have sex with her boyfriend Chris (Ron Livingston). She works at a brewery with Luke (Jake Johnson) with whom she has a close, flirty drinking relationship.

Luke is obviously attracted to the beautiful Kate but also has stable, grounded, thoughtful girlfriend named Jill, (Anna Kendrick). Immediately the story lets you know that Luke doesn’t want a lot of responsibility, lives in Jill’s home and likes the laid back boozy life of making beer, drinking any time at work and after work with Kate and their work mates.

Jill is a responsible teacher, wants a long term plan, marriage, and a family. Kate is lost and although we never get why she is so afraid to commit to Chris or any one, Wilde makes the audience want her character to find happiness.

Chris, with limited screen time makes his presence known that he’s looking or more than a boozy late night booty call. The lynch pin of the film is a 2 day trip the four of them take together to a mountain cabin, where it becomes obvious who is better matched to whom.

The obvious issue of functional alcoholism is never addressed directly, but we see where it is going although the protagonist may or may not.

Wilde is excellent at being the beautiful girl who is afraid to commit personally. Livingston, makes his presence known in his few pointed scenes - good job. Johnson is superb at being the laid back, nice guy, and friend to all while being a functional alcoholic. His verbal manipulation not only tricks others but belies himself as well. Kendrick, is very good as the controlled woman, who has a plan for her life and seems to love Luke for all the wrong reasons. Joe Swanberg wrote and directed this film. He’s writing is spot on for the characters although they might be too clearly defined, he cannot be faulted for this. His direction and scenes are set up well and work really well.

Overall:  A surprisingly enjoyable and thoughtful film.

Holly

First Hit: Although a mediocre film, the point it makes about child sex trafficking is brave and commendable.

I don’t know of any films that take on this sordid subject, therefore on this alone it deserve points. The best acting done in this film is by Thuy Nguyen who plays Holly.

Holly has been sold into the Cambodian sex trade by her Vietnamese parents. They did this for survival. Patrick (Ron Livingston) happens across this girl while his motorcycle is getting fixed. He job, besides losing at card games, is to find artifacts for Freddie (Chris Penn) who seems to be a fat cat artifacts dealer Cambodia.

Patrick notices that Holly is a house made but the madame wants her to be a hooker. However, she isn’t like the other boom boom (hookers) girls by her moodiness and that she doesn’t mix with the other older girls. Patrick befriends her by buying her some food.

A German attorney Klaus (Udo Kier), who hangs around the brothel makes a couple of snide comments that Patrick likes his girls young. This pisses Patrick off and makes him more determined to stand his moral ground and save this girl.

Patrick attempts to create an honest friendship with Holly because she, like him, is stubborn and there is a mutual respect for each other. Holly runs away from her madam multiple times and gets caught and sold again. Patrick tries to find her and save her from this life and solicits advice from a woman who runs an organization that tries to save these girls.

This is a story about one man’s attempt to save just one girl.

Besides the Thuy’s acting some of the scenes are dead on their mark for realism. Specifically there is one scene where one young boy drags Patrick off to see baby and is confronted with a man selling his extremely young girls for “yum yum, no boom boom.”

In another scene where Holly is searching through a dump for bottles was very realistic and it happens in many poor sections of Asia.

Overall: This is a commendable film for taking on this extremely difficult subject but the story line could have been better written and the acting, by the adults, could have been stronger.