Tully (15)

As filmmakers, screenwriter Diablo Cody and director Jason Reitman bring out the best in each other. Having collaborated on Juno and

Young Adult, whatever cinematic alchemy they have going on is immediately apparent in this third collaboration, which revolves around a stressed-out, soon-to-be mumof-three (played with unvarnished authenticity by Charlize Theron) who’s thrown a bit of a lifeline when her brother offers to hire her a night nanny to ease the burden on the first few sleep-deprived months. This is the eponymous Tully (Mackenzie Davies) – a 26-year-old wonder who’s there to look after her as much as her new daughter. Though at first Marlo (Theron) doesn’t know what to make of her – her wisdom, her youthful optimism, her flat stomach and her ability to cook cupcakes and degrease the floors throw her for a loop – before long Tully’s kindness starts making her feel somehow whole again amid the everyday chaos of modern family life where the quiet despair of motherhood is too easily ignored. Theron tops her performance in Young Adult here in an even trickier role, one that not only takes a flamethrower to the idealised vision of parenthood commonly found in movies, but also sensitively explores the mental health issues that can accompany it. It helps that Cody feeds her some terrific dialogue and also that Reitman handles the more surprising story turns with a lightness of touch that might at first leave you questioning the film’s effectiveness, but in retrospect feels like a smart way to symbolically replicate what Marlo is going through. Great stuff.