4/5 First-rate indie
  by Westley (Stuck in my head)
The Coates family owns a small farm somewhere in rural Nebraska. Oldest son Tully (Anson Mount) is a bit of a lothario and is currently involved with an older woman who strips for a living (she calls it "burlesque dancing"). His younger brother, Earl (Glenn Fitzgerald), is a bit more naive and impressionable. Their father, Tully Sr. (Bob Burrus), is an emotionally repressed man who was tasked with raising his two young sons following the death of his wife in a car accident. When their father receives notice that a lien has been placed against their farm, their world begins to unravel and long suppressed family secrets come forth.

"Tully" is the kind of small indie gem that makes the genre so worthwhile. I was expecting a likeable film, but I was surprised by the emotional wallop it packs. Despite its small scale, the film tells a story that's universal, focusing on how the lack of communication between family members can be so devastating. Although the main plotline could take place anywhere, setting it on a Midwest farm greatly strengthens the emotional impact of the story by grounding the story and preventing it from spinning into melodrama. Based on a short story by Tom McNeal, "Tully" is a film that takes its time, and some viewers may be bored by the molasses-paced plotline. However, patient viewers will be greatly rewarded. Indeed, the small details help make "Tully" such a pleasure, such as the flirtatious relationship between Tully Sr. and the grocery clerk. Every scene rings true, even when the storyline starts to become a bit too much.

To date, director Hilary Birmingham has not made another film, which is a real loss, as she is in full command of this story and her actors. The film was nominated for Best Feature at the Independent Spirit Awards, along with "The Good Girl," "Lovely & Amazing," "Secretary," and eventual winner "Far from Heaven." Although it's the least known of these nominees, "Tully" can more than hold it's own in this field of fine indie films. Finally, I should note that the DVD box, which makes the movie look like some kind of crime thriller, is just terrible and does not reflect what the movies is like.


5/5 Great little sleeper
  by Bradley F. Smith (Miami Beach, FL)
I wonder if this ever showed up in theaters? It's a very well done coming of age drama with a cast of unknowns who make the best of an intelligent script. No shooting. No violence. Two brothers knock heads, discover uncomfortable details about their pasts and it's all set in a dreamy farmscape somewhere in the midwest. Emminently entertaining.

4/5 Small film yields large pleasures
  by J. C Clark (Overland Park, KS United States)
A perfectly put together film about love and growing up. Tully Jr sees love as an endless series of sexual trysts. He learns that there is way more to love than this. Among the many beauties of this tale is the contrast between the free-spirit mom and the boring, trudging dad. Most Hollywood tales, encouraging us to follow our hearts and put ourselves first, never show the broken lives, crushed dreams, and shatttered relationships all too often left behind. But in Tully we see that love is not genetic, not something that happens to us, or something we fall in to, but spiritual, a choice made and honored. The painful difference between those who love others and those who love themeselves is exquisitely done. This is a film that had to be set in the Heartland; no one in Hollywood believes any of this stuff.

Well done in every respect. See it.

5/5 Life's Twists and Turns Affects Farmers as Much as Anyone Else
  by Artist & Author (Near Mt. Baker, WA)
Probably the single most important reason that a drama fails is because the actors are unable to adequately express the appropriate emotions. Therefore, it is truly a delight to find a movie with such fitting and intensely expressed emotions. Maybe I should add that I watch as many as thirty to thirty-five movies a week when I am working on my book at my cottage, and it is extremely rare for me to find a movie where I have to put everything aside to watch a movie. The feeling in Tully is so intense that I was transfixed, almost hypnotized, by what was happening on screen.

The film had not gone very far when I told my wife that Tully, Sr. was the most believable farmer I'd ever seen on screen. I know that he acted with the Actor's Theater of Louisville, KY for fifteen years, but I still think he must have spent quite a bit of time farming for real! I grew up in the hog capital of the world in Illinois, surrounded by relatives and friends who were farmers, and he would have blended in with any group of old farmers discussing their crops and 'the old days.' His emotions in the scene where he finds out the truth about his long-gone wife is so real one has to wonder if it didn't really happen to him! For that scene alone it is worth watching the movie.

Of course, the movie is about the younger Tully. The expressed relationship between him and his father, his brother, and Ella is also extremely believable. All these younger generation actors are also extremely gifted in expressing the appropriate emotions at the proper times. Indeed, this whole movie should be seen by aspiring actors to observe outstanding expressions of emotions.

If there is anything I would consider negative about the movie, one would be that I didn't find Tully's 'arms-length' sexual affair with the town slut to add anything to the story. A second one would be when Tully began to realize the truth and Ella went to him to offer him a sympathetic and understanding ear, instead of having a serious talk they end up with their clothes off in the back of his car. It would have been more appropriate for Ella to let Tully know she was interested in him sexually, but that then was not the appropriate time. Also, there is a modest amount of coarse language that wasn't really necessary. These are minor drawbacks, however, in an otherwise outstanding movie.

To conclude, it you are interested in fast-paced action films, pass this one by. But, it you can appreciate the slower life of the Midwest farming country, this is a realistic portrayal of that life. No matter how idyllic such a life looks from the outside, this movie shows that life's twists and turns affect farmers just as much as anyone else. And, it does it with such an accurate depiction of the emotions involved that you'll probably wish you could be there to offer your advice and support.

4/5 Quiet, powerful family drama
  by David Bonesteel (Fresno, CA United States)
Life for a father (Bob Burrus) and his two sons (Anson Mount and Glenn Fitzgerald) on their Nebraska farm is disrupted by an unexpected foreclosure notice that causes the opening of family secrets concerning the absent mother. This quiet but powerful drama has a deliberate pace that matches the long, slow summer days and nights of a rural community. Deceptively uneventful on the surface, the film seethes with repressed emotion underneath, and the end is heartbreaking. A cast of unknowns make these honest, hard-working characters into people that you could expect to meet on the street.