Movie Review: Tuesday

 

Michael's Movie Grade: A+

A mature and intelligent contemplation on death. 

This film marks the feature length directorial debut for director/writer Daina O. Pusić. She could not have started her movie career with a more ambitious project.

Here she pictures death as a magical bird that can grow or shrink in size. At first this bird seems to do his job with little emotion, as he speaks not a word and simply sends both those who are ready to die and those who are afraid of death to their deaths simply like a force of nature. However, all this changes when we meet our main human characters. He goes to visit a 15-year-old girl, who is very ill. Yet the two end up becoming friends. Because of this she convinces Death to wait until she can talk to her mom. The bird patiently spends time with her until her mom comes home. What happens after is something I dare not spoil here. 

This type of story could have easily gone wrong in one of two ways. Either the fantasy elements could make it so it would be hard to take the serious themes seriously or the film could simply be too depressing for anyone to want to sit through. Somehow this first-time director/writer found a way to not fall into either of these traps. As I left the theater, I was profoundly moved by what I saw but never in a way that I wasn't completely grateful for having watched it. Rather than distracting from the seriousness of the story, the fantasy elements instead communicated these complex themes in a way that seems perfectly approachable and even more profound. As for the serious themes, they are explored in a highly intelligent thought-provoking manner. This film does not give any easy answers for death, but rather it explores all the ways it is both necessary and hard to deal with. This movie is full of scenes that emotionally hit you right in the gut, but there is also something inspiring and even kind of uplifting even in the film's darkest scenes. Watching this film, you will be taken to some dark places but the light will never be fully taken away as there is something beautiful even in these dark places. It is rare to see a film that leaves you with so many complex emotions that are hard to explain but this movie does that just perfectly. 

Also making this movie even more powerful are the performances by Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Lola Petticrew. Both of them give perfect performances here. Petticrew may be a young actress, but she plays this role with an incredible amount of maturity and insight. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is of course best known for her over the top comedy roles (especially in the infamous sitcom, Seinfeld). However here she is given what is perhaps the most serious role of her career and she plays it perfectly. She brings such emotion to her performance that it is hard not to be swept up in it.  

This is simply a must-see.