Tuesday Review: Kooky Macaw as Death Angel for Julia Louis-Dreyfus in Hipster Comedy

Can the terrifying mystery of death be in any way explained, or its wrenching pain softened, by a quirky hipster movie fantasy about the angel of death being a talking macaw? This bafflingly irrelevant and shallow film from first-time feature director Daina O Pusic answers with a resounding no. “Tuesday” stars the estimable Julia Louis-Dreyfus, transitioning from comic masterpieces like Seinfeld and Veep to a serious movie career. Yet, it is frustrating to see such a quality performance marooned in the middle of pointless silliness.

The film is set in a London suburb, aided by co-production funding from BBC Film and the BFI. The central character is Tuesday, a 15-year-old British girl played by Lola Petticrew, who is dying at home from a terminal illness, likely lung cancer. Her American mom, Zora, fiercely portrayed by Louis-Dreyfus, theoretically works while a nurse, played by Leah Harvey, takes care of Tuesday. However, Zora, gripped with denied grief and teetering on the edge of a breakdown, has secretly abandoned her job. She spends her days loitering in cafes and parks, selling everything in the house to afford Tuesday’s care.

The plot thickens with the arrival of a talking macaw, voiced with croaky-sonorous significance by Arinzé Kene, that has the ability to change size. This bird appears to take Tuesday away to the great beyond, sparking Zora’s furious confrontation with the macaw—a transformative encounter. Meanwhile, the film elongates by depicting a bizarre apocalyptic breakdown in London. The freaky zombified behavior witnessed might be linked to Zora’s refusal to accept the natural order of things.

Desolemnizing and mocking the business of death could arguably bring relief, showing not a white-masked Euro-arthouse figure who needs to be beaten at chess but a wacky creature almost like Tuesday’s secret friend, akin to ET. However, clichés abound. Tuesday’s condition is portrayed prettily, and she is unsurprisingly wise beyond her years compared to her scattered, grumpy mom. Despite his bizarre and chaotic presence, the death bird effectively schools everyone in seraphic acceptance—a depiction far from reality’s harshness where death does not always bring clarity or peace. If Tuesday had been angry and selfish, and the macaw spoke in a high, squeaky voice, that would have been refreshingly transgressive. As it stands, the movie teeters in a tonal muddle.

Louis-Dreyfus delivers an excellent performance, characterized by intelligence, sensitivity, focus, and intensity, hitting her lines with percussive force. One can’t help but wonder how overwhelming it could have been to see her and Petticrew enact this story without the indie high-concept bird. Eventually, Zora turns to the macaw to ask big existential questions. Unlike Woody Allan’s Love and Death, where the cowled figure stays silent to such queries, the macaw responds with stunning secular-humanist banality. This film dies a slow death.

• Tuesday is in UK and Irish cinemas from 9 August.

Source: The Guardian