Tuesday
Review by Ryan M Painter
**NOTE: this post may be updated with audio once we actually have the chance to talk about it. Until then, you can read Ryan’s review below. Remember, though, you can listen to all our discussions of this and every other movie directly over on ACAST. Stay tuned.**
151 Minutes, Rated R (Language)
Written and Directed by Daina Oniunas-Pusic
Synopsis:
A mother (Julia Louis-Dreyfus, in a profoundly moving performance) and her teenage daughter (Lola Petticrew) must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
From debut filmmaker Daina O. Pusić, Tuesday is a heart-rending fairy tale about the echoes of loss and finding resilience in the unexpected.
Death comes feathered and filthy to Tuesday’s side. Unprepared to die, Tuesday distracts Death with a story. Properly amused, Death speaks for the first time in years.
Did I happen to mention that Death comes in the form of a macaw covered in a black soot. A disgusting animal with eyes that convey a surprising depth of sympathy. Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), a young woman who lives with her distant and unreachable mother, has a terminal condition. It is her time.
Still, terrified, Tuesday takes pity on the size-shifting bird that sits before her. Compelled to comfort Death, Tuesday reaches out to stroke the creature. She is quickly rebuffed. Death, it would seem, is ashamed of its appearance.
Tuesday offers to wash the bird. Is she simply stalling the inevitable?
Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Tuesday’s mother, is quick to leave her daughter in the care of an in-home nurse. Tuesday’s sickness has made her unbearable to look at. Zora, unable to confront the truth of Tuesday’s condition, spends her day selling her possessions and lingering in parks.
Yes, Tuesday is stalling.
I’m conflicted. Not in my opinion of Tuesday, but by how to describe it. Yes, there is a pervasive weirdness to the film. It’s in the way that folklore and fantasy inform the way that Death is presented. I love that. But fundamentally the narrative is grounded in the very real emotional struggle that terminal illness offers to the sick and their loved ones. I love that too.
The story is also structured in a straightforward and simplistic way. Nonetheless, even if you have a notion of the narrative’s destination, you’ll find it hard to predict the path it is going to take. That’s no easy feat and Tuesday pulls it off with ease.
And while I find the impact that Death’s extended visit with Tuesday has on the outside world, I think it was incredibly wise to not devote more time than the film does. It’s just so evocative, as a writer, I would find it incredibly difficult to resist. I do have a reputation for following shiny things down rabbit holes.
The cast is fantastic. Both Petticrew and Louis-Dreyfus are asked to go into vulnerable spaces, and they maintain believability where lesser performers would struggle keeping a level tone in the more fanciful moments. For as weird as it gets, the film never loses its sense of humanity and connection. Even Death, our size-shifting macaw of destruction, feels soulful. There is a tenderness that radiates from the material.
Leah Harvey’s Nurse Billie isn’t nearly as explored as Zora and Tuesday, but even in a smaller role Harvey is able to give the character depth. Arinzé Kene’s voice work is fantastic as he gives Death is a perfect unnerving gravel and growl.
Writer/director Daina Oniunas-Pusic has made a confident, marvelous debut feature that is delightfully different and surprisingly approachable.
Tuesday is in theaters June 14 and stars Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Lola Petticrew, Arinze Kene, and Leah Harvey.
And remember, if the BEST thing you can say about a movie is that it’s “visually stunning,” then they’ve done something wrong.
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