Tuesday is ambitious as it attempts to articulate that death is always surrounding us, whether it’s obvious it is lurking or not. Death is always going to be hard to confront once it arrives in your life and Daina Oniunas Pusić takes big swings to show the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect their child and keep that love alive forever. 

Films about grief often utilize an unsuspecting conduit to visualize the weight and burden loss can loom on a person. Many films, typically in the horror genre, use anything from ghosts to cults to aliens to bring some sort of physical form to the feeling of grief associated with death, but in Tuesday, a giant, talking (dirty) macaw is used. The macaw, voiced by Arinzé Kene, flies around earth, killing every type of life from bugs to humans when it’s their time. 

We see Death spend many final moments with various people across the globe before focusing on Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her terminally ill young daughter, Tuesday (Lola Petticrew). Written and directed by Daina Oniunas Pusić, Tuesday attempts to explore through (very obvious) metaphors the way grief and loss impact people differently no matter how death comes into your life. 

Tuesday starts as Zora after she leaves her daughter for the day with an in-home nurse (Leah Harvey). It appears Zora is leaving for work, but we quickly follow her on various errands and ignoring any responsibilities it seems as she ignores not only Tuesday’s phone call but also ‘Nurse 8.’ Zora visits a taxidermy shop where she tries to pawn off a collection of four stuffed rats that she insists are part of a set as they’re dressed as different members of the church. She makes a joke to owner of the shop, and it becomes clear Zora is attempting to use humor to cope and hide behind. As the film continues its extended period of separation between the mother and daughter characters, it feels it’s dragging versus giving us any insight to either character. 

When Death comes to Tuesday while Zora is out for the day, it’s clear Tuesday suffers from an illness that keeps her in chronic pain, but the specific illness is never spoken. Death moves in on Tuesday and it’s clear they assume that Tuesday will pass as easy as it always is, but when she helps Death with a panic attack, they see her appreciation for the world around. 

Tuesday and Death bond while Death allows her more time until her mother comes home. She brings the macaw inside to remove glue, left over from a rat trap he previously carried out their work at, from their talons. As Tuesday helps Death clean up, the voices that fill their head from the creatures of the world calling for Death disappear. Tuesday helping Death in such a selfless way makes Death almost sympathetic to her predicament. In the scenes where Death and Tuesday are bonding that Pusić begins to explore existential ideas as to what death can mean when you know it’s coming for you, but the moment Zora returns home, the intriguing ideas dissipate.

The denial Zora has over her daughter’s impending death is well written and portrayed as a parent would do anything to not lose their child. The only issue is the way Zora as a parent comes across as it’s made very clear Tuesday’s health issues have gone on for quite some time. Zora being told to spend more time with her daughter while Pusić attempted to show Zora at first as a mother struggling with what to really do with this grief looming over her feels contradictory as it does feel she’s trying to show Zora coming full circle with the lessons Death poses on them. 

Louis-Dreyfus delivers one of her best performances to date. She portrays Zora much more nuanced and stronger than the character is written. From having moments to allow her genius comedic side shine to the weight she brings to the emotional, traumatic scenes, Louis-Dreyfus proves every single film is better with her on screen. Petticrew is excellent as they carry much of Tuesday’s emotions internally and express just simply through their eyes or simple quiver in their voice. Both actors are excellent given much of their emotional screentime is opposite a CGI bird for large stretches of the film. 

Tuesday is ambitious as it attempts to articulate that death is always surrounding us, whether it’s obvious it is lurking or not. Death is always going to be hard to confront once it arrives in your life and Pusić takes big swings to show the lengths a mother will go to in order to protect their child and keep that love alive forever. 

Grade: C+

Oscars Prospects:
Likely: None
Should be Considered: None

Where to Watch: In Select Theaters