Tully vs. All the Real Girls
More on my self-imposed 50-Movie Challenge. I’m not writing about books lately because I’m doing research for my novel.
9. Tully. 2002. Directed by Hilary Birmingham. A quiet little gem of a movie about a small-town loverboy who learns not to be such an ass. The beautiful scenery and the unconventional, red-haired beauty of Julianne Nicholson both reminded me of Malick’s Badlands, though that’s a heavy comparison for this little film. A little slow to start, it eventually got me completely engaged with its story and characters. I loved it.
A few days later, I started to watch All the Real Girls. 2003. Directed by David Gordon Green. I watched for thirty minutes, then gave up. It is also the story of a small-town loverboy. I did not, though, buy Paul Schneider as the lead. Yes, I know womanizers don’t have to be good looking or socially ept, but I find them more believable in fiction when they are. (Seriously, who are you going to buy as a womanizer? Him, or him?) I didn’t buy Natasha Leone as an ingenue. While Tully unfolded slowly and carefully, All the Real Girls jumped around in fits and starts, often dropping in on characters in mid-conversation. It felt too self-consciously clever on the part of the director. Both movies got great reviews, but I couldn’t work up the gumption to finish the latter.
March 29th, 2005 at 9:24 am
weird - i once bought the book Tully from a library sale. but never wound up reading it.
April 9th, 2005 at 1:25 pm
While most people agree that it’s hard to translate books into film, I do think short stories can be done well, as in Tully.