Death has taken many forms in cinema. Bengt Ekerot, Ian McKellen, John Cleese, even a blonde Brad Pitt. But in filmmaker Diana O. Pusic’s bold, imaginative and touching debut feature, “Tuesday,” death looks like a macaw that has also seen better days.
Coated in a thick layer of dirt and grease with patches of feathers missing, the death of “Tuesday” could be as big as a room or as small as an ear canal. Its echoing, raspy voice sounds ancient and otherworldly. And it all adds up to something very unsettling. This isn’t exactly a comfortable welcome to the afterlife or anything that comes after.
“Tuesday,” rolling out nationwide on Friday, is about death and acceptance between a mother and her dying daughter. But it’s not a Hallmark affair fit for a sympathy card. It’s biting, satirical, somewhat pathos-filled, a little harsh and sometimes very painful. Or maybe that’s just British. And you might find yourself in a puddle of tears of your own.
Now, in terms of cinematic emotional blackmail, a parent accepting the imminent death of their child is very much in the red zone. This kind of setup is bound to produce involuntary tears in the audience, no matter the level of talent involved. Thankfully for us, there is immense creativity and vision both in front of and behind the camera, including not only the writer-director but the special effects experts responsible for Death, as well as the haunting and innovative sound design.
Lola Petticrew plays Tuesday, a teenager with a “breathless” pixie cut, a love of jokes and rap music, and a terminal illness that ties her to an oxygen tank and wheelchair. Her mother, Zora, is completely detached from the situation. She tiptoes around the house and waits for Billie, the nurse, to take care of her. She stays out all day, pawns household items to raise money for care, ignores Tuesday’s calls, and sometimes sleeps on park benches. At home, she doesn’t want to talk to Tuesday about anything real – death, her job, their precarious financial situation – it’s all so repressed and fragmented and is driving everyone crazy
The day we meet Zora and Death arrives is Tuesday. Billie went out into the yard for just a minute on Tuesday to take a shower. Suddenly, the girl who was just joking around gasps for breath when Macca lands next to her. Death is actually the first character introduced in a horrific series of deaths that sets a sinister tone that will linger throughout. Some people are ready to go, begging for relief. Some are just scared. And once he spreads his wings around them, everyone has the same outcome.
However, Tuesday decides to tell a joke. This puts Death at ease and suddenly the two of them are having a conversation together. She gives him a bath, plays some music and asks for a favor: she wants to say goodbye to her mother first. Death agrees.
Of course the story is both simple and not simple. “Tuesday” becomes a strange combination of body horror, fairy tale, domestic drama and apocalyptic thriller. It’s strange and compelling – never predictable and never boring. Louis-Dreyfus is both terrifying and deeply sympathetic as a woman who is already paralyzed by grief. She seems to be preparing for her own death in a way, unable and unwilling to live life without her daughter who, at this point, does not even realize that her mother still loves her. Petticrew holds her ground, going head to head with Louis-Dreyfus at her most ferocious, demonstrating a wisdom beyond her age and making the case for a person who has had to grow up too early and face death.
“Tuesday” is ultimately an emotional affair, whether death is top of mind this time or not. And it announces the arrival of a daring filmmaker who deserves to be followed.
“Tuesday,” released on A24 in theaters nationwide on Friday, is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language. Duration: 111 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
This story has been updated to correct Lola Petticrew’s pronouns.
This article is generated from an automated news agency feed without any modifications to the text.
