NEW YORK. Death has taken many forms in cinema: Bengt Ekerot, Ian McKellen, John Cleese, and even Brad Pitt with blonde highlights. But in “Tuesday,” filmmaker Daina O. Pusić’s audacious, fantastical, and poignant debut, death appears as a macaw that’s seen better days.
Covered in grime and oil with missing patches of feathers, “Tuesday’s” Death can be as large as a room or as small as an ear canal. Its gravelly, ancient voice, provided by Arinzé Kene, is profoundly unsettling, offering no comforting welcome into the afterlife.
“Tuesday,” expanding nationwide Friday, explores death and acceptance between a mother and her dying daughter. However, this is no Hallmark-style sympathy card. It’s prickly, wry, somewhat unsentimental, gritty, and painfully emotional. You might find yourself in a puddle of your own tears by the film’s end.
The story introduces us to Tuesday, who, facing death, tells a joke. This disarms Death, leading to a surprising conversation. She gives Death a bath, puts on some music, and requests a favor: she wants to say goodbye to her mother first. Death obliges.
What follows is a blend of body horror, fairy tale, domestic drama, and apocalypse thriller. “Tuesday” is weird, transfixing, unpredictable, and never boring. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is both chilling and deeply empathetic as a woman paralyzed by grief even before it happens. She prepares for her own death, unable to process life without her daughter, who doesn’t realize her mother still loves her. Newcomer actress Zoe Ziegler holds her own against Louis-Dreyfus, showing a wisdom beyond her years.
“Tuesday” is ultimately a cathartic experience, addressing death in a profound way. It announces Daina O. Pusić as a daring filmmaker to watch.
“Tuesday,” an A24 release, opens in theaters nationwide on Friday. It is rated R by the Motion Picture Association for language and has a running time of 111 minutes. Three and a half stars out of four.
Paraluman P. Funtanilla
Paraluman P. Funtanilla is Tutubi News Magazine's Marketing Specialist and is a Contributing Editor. She finished her degree in Communication Arts in De La Salle Lipa. She has worked as a Digital Marketer for start-up businesses and small business spaces for the past two years. She has earned certificates from Coursera on Brand Management: Aligning Business Brand and Behavior and Viral Marketing and How to Craft Contagious Content. She also worked with Asia Express Romania TV Show.
