Cinebuffs Recommends
Were we supposed to be wondering where the moon went at the start, as the camera pans out from earth, a la Contact's opening credits?
I imagine this will be the least of your immediate curiosities when you are then introduced to what appears to be a rust coloured parrot with some rather unusual abilites, visiting folks at what appears to be the end of their lives. So, anyway...
I won't lie, I found it quite unusual to see Julia Dreyfuss popping up in an A24 project with the BBC, sponsored by the lovely BFI. Yet here we are. This parrot (macaw?) actually represents Death, flying into our lives just before stealing it away with a mere wave of a wing.
As an approach to the subject of death this is both innovative and refreshing. It is sublimely well written even in its simplest moments, but the whole thing reeks of a leaking humanity which is so rarely and effectively achieved.
It isn't easy or convenient to watch and some may even call it disjointed at times, but the perfomances of Tuesday (Lola Petticrew) as the next person on Death's list and her mother (Dreyfuss) are mesmerising to sit through, especially when the mother meets Death herself.
By the end you will wish that this was true and that if only it were, then death would not be the fearful end that many suffer from, or the torturous aftermath that we all experience when a loved one moves on.
A beautiful, moving piece of work which still manages to maintain a darkly comical undertone that I would recommend anyone sit through. Yes, it's undeniably odd, but this exudes value in spades.
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