Tallulah

This film has a lot of swell ingredients but it was left on the stove for a little too long and has become overcooked.

Writer/director Sian Heder has crafted a film about women, or more specifically about being a mother; the desire to be one, the difficulties, the loneliness, and what qualifies one to do it. It's sad and funny and recognisable all at once.

Elliot Page plays the eponymous Tallulah; a woman who has decided to opt out of society's responsibilities and restrictions and lives a life of petty crime from her van. Through a series of events and impulsive decisions, Tallulah ends up kidnapping a baby and shows up at the door of her ex-boyfriend's Mom, Margo (Alison Janney) claiming the baby is Margo's grandchild.

After all that first act running around set-up, Tallulah settles in to observe the three women impacted by this; Tallulah, Margo, and Carolyn, the biological mother played by Tammy Blanchard (last seen by me to chilling effect in "The Invitation").

All three women are coping with their sudden, unexpected new maternal situation; grand/motherhood, or it's wished-for absence. This is fertile (no pun intended) ground, and it's a shame the movie doesn't have the confidence to sit with the significance of these unintended consequences for these three women - too much time is spent on the busy-work of investigation, dodging police, and worst of all, the possibility of romance.

The film recognises the situation it has put these women in, but instead of reckoning with how they respond, it gives them suspicious detectives, and amorous doormen to spar with. But the meat of the matter is not in how others now see them, but in how they see themselves.

One particularly silly sequence has Tallulah turn manic pixie dream girl and teach Margo something by encouraging her to mess up the expensive paintings in her apartment she doesn't even like. It's all so superficial.

Luckily, the material is elevated by three brilliant actresses committing to their characters. Page and Janney (in their third collaboration following "Juno" and "Touchy Feely") are wonderful. Page brings a believable burgeoning maturity as she realises she may actually be up for this mothering thing after all. Janney excels at portraying someone closed off, and almost against her wishes, is allowing herself to open up again.

The real MVP though is Blanchard as the drunk who suddenly finds she desperately wants her child back. She takes us from potentially depressed new mother using alcohol to cope, to a woman seeing herself through others eyes for the first time in a long time and not liking what she is seeing.

You might come for Page and Janney but it is Blanchard you stay for, and I regretted the small amount of screen time the three had together.

The film is smart enough not to judge it's characters - they may do despicable things but the script always offers us some insight into why they did them.

If it sometimes indulges that desire a little too much (better to hint at or show problematic home lives than to give characters monologues where they spell it out), it's also wise enough to not hand us pat answers by the end. We have a fair idea of where things might go, but issues are by no means resolved, and that was the right place to leave it.

The final scene is so gratingly on-the-nose though that it almost ruined the whole thing for me, but I recalled the penultimate scene and felt connected to these strong but struggling women once again.

I have always been scarce to rate a movie 10/10. However I can not describe how truly deserved that number is. I stumbled upon this movie very casually and came out devastated, touched and changed quite honestly. Now this may seem extreme (and I share the passion of mocking others that take reviews to the next level), but this movie contains everything I love about movies and does so with ease. Let me start with Ellen Page. Wow. Ellen has always performed magnificently, but this movie in my humble opinion has defined her as an actress. Allison Jenny, destroyed my heart and plunged me into the character (Margo) that she took on so elegantly. Never before have I screamed, cried and laughed in a single scene, at the computer, then I did in a certain scene in 'Tallulah', thanks to Allison. I would seriously encourage any movie lover anywhere (since it seriously is a movie for all), to watch this movie if they are in the mood to smile, laugh and cry. 'Tallulah' is a masterpiece and I would define it as an experience. An experience none should live without.

I was stunned by how beautiful this movie was. I didn't really expect this much, and seeing a weak IMDb score made me want to review this film. All women should watch this film. It disregards all standard stereotypes we have about mothers, middle aged women and how we relate to each other. Some reviewers talk about it being predictable, Id say its the opposite. Aside from the general outline of events in the film, no valuable aspect is predictable. Although I cannot speak for the male audience, I am worried it plays too much on female emotions and values to be able to be a hit for both genders. But I might be wrong. It contains Oscar worthy performances and its screenplay is brilliant in itself. It reminded me a lot of the feeling I got stuck with after watching American Beauty.That feeling is still there though. Don't know about this one.

'TALLULAH': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A Netflix original drama flick; about a homeless girl, that kidnaps the baby of a neglectful mother, and then bonds with the mother of her ex-boyfriend, who she turns to for help. The film stars Ellen Page, Allison Janney, Tammy Blanchard and Evan Jonigkeit (it also features a cameo by Zachary Quinto). The movie was written and directed by first time feature filmmaker Sian Heder (a veteran writer of the popular TV series 'ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK'). The film has received mostly positive reviews from critics, and Netflix viewers alike. I enjoyed it a lot more than I first thought I would.

Tallulah (Page) and her boyfriend, Nico (Jonigkeit), have been traveling, and living in their van, for years. When Nico suddenly leaves one day, and takes the couple's money with him, Tallulah goes to Nico's mother, Margo (Janney), for help. When Margo wants nothing to do with her, Tallulah begins searching a nearby hotel for food (and money). That's when a partying mother (Blanchard) hires Tallulah to babysit her young child. When the neglectful mom returns home wasted, and passes out after cursing at the child, Tallulah decides to take the baby. She turns to Margo for help, telling her it's Nico's child. The two reluctantly bond.

The film's story seems odd, and I had doubts it would be that interesting (especially after first starting the movie), but it actually turns out to be a pretty involving film. Page and Janney are both excellent in the leads, especially Page, and the characters are both extremely flawed but likable. Heder also seems to be a pretty awesome new filmmaker to watch out for; who seems to do a great job of writing women roles. After this, I'll definitely check out her next movie.

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I don't think the plot summary of this is anything truly original or unpredictable, but boy do the writers do it really well. They do a fine job of developing the central characters and do a good job of making us empathetic towards everyone, which is always important for a film like this. You have to find a certain balance where your characters' flaws come shining through very noticeably, but where their redeeming qualities also become more noticeable as the film goes on. In this case they do. The entire cast is quite strong, with Page, Janney, and Blanchard giving some really powerful work here. It's great to see them working at this capacity and all should receive at least some attention come awards season.