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.
