Tuesday

Tuesday_360P

Loss is hard and so is letting go. With that out of the way, let's delve in shall we? I'm thoroughly conflicted. The idea of a parrot as death is genius. The cinematography was passable leaning toward worthy. The acting was wishy-washy, Julia Dreyfus was passable as a grieving mom who refuses to relinquish hope that her terminally ill daughter(Lola Petticrew) the titular"Tuesday" is on the precipice of death. The plot was woefully underdeveloped. I dug the idea of a size-shifting red macaw as death, brilliant especially since many parrot species outlive their owners. I was all in until the pronounced corny jokes started and sapped all seriousness. I'm all for comic relief in dark dramas but this seemed nonsensible. There was no need for constipated humor. And what are you, sci-fi, drama, dramedy? Here's the rub, the parrot was reminiscent of Joe from "Meet Joe Black" if Joe was shallow, underdeveloped, and ancillary. In "Tuesday" Death's genesis is an insipid bore. Its mother was a literal void of darkness that spat him out of her/its womb. That's it! That is the depth of Death. I needed more here to give it that "wow" factor. If you stumbled upon it, a sleeper movie, yeah, then it's pretty good. If you read the praise and adulation, it misses the mark. I don't understand the heaps of praise. Perhaps I am missing something. 6/10.

A24 doesn't disappoint here and delivers a unique way of showing us the beauty of death itself. Tuesday teaches the viewer why death is necessary in order to live. At first, we see Zora (Julia Dreyfus) in denial with the idea of her daughter dying. But then, once she feels her pain and suffering (physically and emotionally), she realizes that maybe, sometimes we are a bit selfish and just think how WE are not ready to live a life without someone we love. This is portrayed beautifully with the scene at the beach, where she finally understands and lets go. Tuesday also demonstrates how we should embrace death and its timing. Closing with a powerful thought about how our memories of the people that aren't with us anymore are what actually make their afterlife.

Well-intentioned but predictable and a little too silly to sell a serious grief metaphor. The creative direction of the second half sent the melancholy pacing into overdrive. The story replaces genuinely well acted mother-daughter dialogue with pondering. But all throughout the film, misplaced jokes seemed forced into the script. The computer generated bird in particular was very hard to take seriously due to the annoying voice acting and cringeworthy jokes. The film reminds me of "Sometimes I think About Dying," which I'd recommend for a more consistent drama that deals with depression in a subtler way.

What happens when a parent loses their child to something so surreally grim and unexpected? Topics like these are hard to fathom, but filmmaker Daina Oniunas-Pusic tackled this quite humbly and harshly in her feature-length debut Tuesday. Starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the lead parental role, the film premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in 2023 before getting picked up by A24 for a wide release in June of this year. As of now, while not garnering as much attention as other films released in this year's spring season, it does have an interesting premise executed with engaging brutality. The film focuses on a single mother named Zora who lives with her terminally ill daughter Tuesday. One day, Death in the form of a size-altering macaw comes to grant Tuesday's inevitable death, thus leading Zora to understand more about her daughter through life, love, and death. With a premise like this, it was clever on the filmmaker's part to establish the conflict from the get go, especially as Death is depicted in a shockingly heartbreaking presence that makes its unsympathetic presence understandably conflicting. At its core, Tuesday is about the conflicting relationship between a chronically ill teenager and their stubbornly unpresent mother who is stuck in her refusal to move on with her life. It is through the troublesome presence of Death that Zora begins to find true compassion within Zora and other people, perhaps hinting at the idea that we tend to miss people the most when they're "gone". The aforementioned Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew share strong chemistry as Zora and Tuesday that keep their relationship appropriately fluctuating as the film goes on. Now admittedly, the film's tone is perhaps a little too grim at times, and it doesn't often fully succeed in balancing surreal fantasy and dark humor within its harsh subject matter. It doesn't help that certain dramatic plot points sporadically come out of left field and get resolved a bit too abruptly, almost as if the film can't quite grasp all of its additional targets amidst its central storyline. That being said, the primary mother-daughter relationship is the most engaging aspect of the feature, thus coming off as a strong showcase of captivating acting, intricate effects work and appropriately placed music. In addition, one can tell a lot of time and care was put into blending Death's macaw form within the real world, all while bringing its animated visibility to life through Arinze Kene's brooding vocal performance. Considering how much screen time the character has throughout the feature, his presence feels as bone chilling to the audience as it does to the movie's characters. As a blending of dark fantasy and brutal drama, this is definitely unique amongst both genres. At the time of this review, Tuesday hasn't been doing amazing financially, but I do imagine this film will garner a much stronger reputation as the year goes on. I see Daina Pusic moving forward with a healthy directorial career, Julia Louis-Drefus gaining some kind of possible Oscar buzz, and both Lola Petticrew and Arinze Kene to be household names amongst many up and coming young adult actors in the mainstream. It might not be everyone's preference given its harsh premise, but there's definitely a lot to appreciate from how bold it is in exploring the values of life and death simultaneously.

A very but interesting and real A24 movie, this is definitely a good movie with a solid premise m, but it can't be a little weird and it's ok if you don't understand everything about this ok, its fine not having idea of whats happening in the film, overall this is a great movie if you are one of those pretentious cinema "experts" like a lot on IMDB, if you understand the movie, you are lying, the bird is somekind of Shinigami and that's everything you need ti understand ok, other than that it's impossible to know what's happening, Dreyfus is great as this awful mother and the 25 year old actress interpreting the daughter is great.

Look. Listen. Feel. Intriguingly, the beginning is a loud moment. Perhaps, too loud. Yet, completely acceptable because in complete run time ONE IS PERPLEXED. The montage is two fold. First, the color is pieced together well. Second, moods interlock to make all stable. Looking, listening, and feeling are numb to make the story consistent and jaw-bending. The juxtaposition of color runs deep in the film. From costuming to cinematic touch; the malevolent undertones fit with color. Color coordination suits the morale; dwindled into sight. It's tone is loud, but not dark. In the end; color dominates how the protagonists felt and with regard to death. In the end; the two montages mentally and physically " breathe ".

Is it weird to think a movie is good but still dislike it? Because that's my stand on Tuesday. The acting is good. The filmmaking is well done. The screenplay is fine. I just could not be less interested. I found this deep meditation on death to be a total bore. Perhaps I had the wrong expectation going in? I knew the basic plot, a sick girl is visited by death in the form of a bird and the girl's mother, already handling her child's illness poorly, does not react well to the whole situation. Does this sound like a dark comedy? A serious drama? A fantasy film? To me, it sounded interesting, whatever genre it fit in. But in actual viewing I discovered the only label I would come up with is dull. Dull, Dull. Dull. On a side note, this now is the second film this year I've seen where a woman becomes a giant (The first was Love Lies Bleeding). I'm not sure what to make of this. Is this a trend of some sort? Are directors into giantess * and it's spilling over into their mainstream work? I'm confused by this.

This movie is about life and death. Let's emphasize as well that the bird is the word. Also coping with pain and death before during even after. When I saw this movie, I was intrigued by the trailer and concept. So saw this film in theater recently. I definitely was interested in the star, Julia from Seinfeld, obviously. This role was Great! Toned down and depth with emotions. Had some drama and quirky moments, she showed some swell range of emotions in this, especially with death or the bird. The bird or death was an odd and interesting twist on death. Had some solid moments and that high-pitched laugh was contagious. I liked the choice of making death a bird instead of a human or something typical very obscure, great choice. The colors and music also helped out the movie a bit, even though could have been involved more.

Tuesday This was a difficult movie to watch, and a difficult movie to review. Death is represented by a parrot that listens to all the suffering and dying in the world, and travels to them to aid them through their passing. Tuesday is the name of a 15 year girl dying of an unnamed disease. Her mother is in such denial that she avoids the house, hiring a nurse to watch over her daughter, and lies about even having a job. When Death comes for Tuesday, instead of begging for her life, or showing fear, she tells him jokes. She cleans his body. And she spends so much time with him that, for once, he cannot hear the cries of the dying. However, a mother in denial comes home to find Death looming, and we get to see the lengths that one can take to protect those they don't want to lose. This is where I disagree from the critics and those that found deep meaning. Tuesday's mom shows extreme narcissistic selfish behavior in her reasoning for fighting Death. The acts she takes causes great catastrophe to the world, and she just doesn't care. Instead, she shows relief that her life may continue now that her daughter isn't dead. Let me repeat that: HER life might continue. This is ridiculous and it really made me dislike her character. The very end of the movie cements this selfishness, but I've spoiled enough already. I truly loved the moments between Tuesday and Death; a girl showing great maturity and acceptance of the hand she's dealt. I wish the movie would have been nothing but philosophical allegories, but we get stuck with the torment of one who tries to save her daughter for all the wrong reasons. Maybe you'll all get something else out of this, and you are free to disagree. I liked the movie in general, but just found the mom so unlikable that it was hard to digest.