Films for Breakfast

One of life’s biggest mysteries is also one of the only things every living creature has in common – death. No one knows what happens (for sure) after we die or what it’ll look like, but every living person or thing dies… eventually. Tuesday, the latest film from Daina Oniunas-Pusic and A24, tells the story of a mother named Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and her daughter Tuesday (Lola Petticrew) as they confront death when it arrives in the form of an eccentric talking bird (voiced by Arinze Kene) that challenges the time Zora thinks she has with her daughter. If this sounds like a unique premise, I promise it doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of how wacky and filled to the brim with ideas the film actually is.

For full transparency, I consider this to be one of the toughest movies I’ve had to write about in quite some time – because I feel like my feelings on it could absolutely sway in either direction over time or after a potential second viewing. On the one hand, Tuesday is a massively original and unique film that feels unlike anything I’ve ever seen before; the kind that I constantly hope the industry is still capable of making and never ceases to create. On the other hand, it’s so messy and filled with ideas that it makes all of the emotions and nuances feel a bit undercooked and scattered; big swings that never feel cohesively conveyed in a way that they feel impactful, despite how heavy they are thematically.

Daina Oniunas-Pusic’s direction here is quite unique and I don’t think it’s necessarily the issue with the film – there are some immensely tender moments, and on the flip side, also moments of great restraint that I think a lesser filmmaker would’ve mined for simplistic melodrama. The grand ideas and questions presented in Tuesday never feel like they’re cheated or half-assed when presented to the audience, but on a personal level, I did find the film to feel a bit cold and uninviting once you get acquainted with what it’s trying to say. Sure, it’s extremely original, but there is an element to it where once it plays its card about its view on death, the afterlife, grief, acceptance, etc. it ultimately doesn’t offer much depth in my opinion. Sure, the presentation of these grand ideas certainly makes it a unique experience, but after sitting with it for a bit, I can’t find myself stewing on or particularly moved by anything it actually said.

Of course, all of this will be completely subjective – films about things like death, motherhood, the afterlife, etc. are all giant topics that will be perceived in different ways by different people; and there’s immense beauty in that. I hope that anyone who has been hurt by the reality of death or is incredibly anxious about it can find some peace or solace within the material here if it so speaks to them. Even with my faults with the film, it’s hard to not be moved by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’s incredible human performance that truly shows the depth of her dramatic chops. There are a number of moments here where she truly blew me away with how much she disappears into this heavily emotional role.

Despite my feelings being slightly mixed, at the end of the day, I think I’d still recommend Tuesday to anyone who appreciates unique and original filmmaking. There are a number of things to admire, like the aforementioned incredible performance from Julia Louis-Dreyfus, solid direction and a genuinely original perspective on death in the form of a talking bird, where actor Arinze Kene does a truly fantastic job at bringing it to life. I’ll take a film that I’m slightly mixed on that’s bursting with such large ideas and originality over a film that feels hollow and uninspired anytime.

2.5/5