Death often gets a bad rep in movies. When The Grim Reaper comes for the main character, they usually try to run away from it or steer clear of the light. But in Tuesday, Death is a welcome warm embrace. According to the immortal being, who appears as a hip-hop-loving macaw here, most people even beg for the absolute relief of it. Tuesday is like a modern-day fable in how it teaches us how to appreciate mortality and finality, as odd as that may sound. Indeed, it should be exhausting to be exposed to this much morbidity, but Tuesday has a way of honoring the end of a person’s life in creative and shocking ways. It’s also, refreshingly, unsentimental about it, a feat bolstered by its smart script and impressive all-around performances.
"Tuesday is a magical realist allegory, dramatising our feelings about mortality – grief, denial, acceptance, despair – and interrogating what a good death might even mean."
— Anton Bitel
"Like the under-seen "A Monster Calls," this movie is frank about the messiness of the emotions around death."
— Nell Minow
A mother and her teenage daughter must confront Death when it arrives in the form of an astonishing talking bird.
When Death visits terminally-ill, 15-year-old Tuesday (Lola Petticrew), they form an unexpected bond that infuriates Tuesday’s mother, Zora (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), who tries to stop the reaper at all costs.
Unsurprisingly, Julia Louis-Dreyfus will make you cry more than once.
If Death comes in the form of a sarcastic, hip-hop-loving, vape-smoking macaw, then maybe I won’t be too scared of it too.
Cannes
1 nomination
Sundance
1 nomination
