52 Tuesdays

52 Tuesdays is an innovative, coming-of-age drama released in 2013. The film was directed by Sophie Hyde and had its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, where it was warmly received. It features powerful performances by Tilda Cobham-Hervey, Del Herbert-Jane, and Sam Althuizen.

The movie presents a year in the lives of its key characters, told using the novel approach of only filming on Tuesdays, for all 52 Tuesdays of the year. This distinctive method allows an authentic exploration of a family undergoing significant changes - changes that affect the family's dynamics, identities and relationships. The film's narrative structure contributes to its realism, creating an almost documentary-like feel that invites the audience into the characters' world.

In her film debut, Tilda Cobham-Hervey gives a striking performance as Billie, the 16-year-old protagonist. Billie comes to live with her father Tom (Beau Travis Williams) when Jane, her mother, played by Del Herbert-Jane, starts a transition to become a man. The gender-transition is handled with care, simplicity, and authenticity, allowing the audience to become part of Jane's journey of self-discovery and transformation, rather than just being observers.

With a transgender parent and and two household structures, Billie navigates through her own adolescent struggles. To cope with the complex changes in her family structure, Billie begins to document her experiences and understanding of her mother’s transition through a film project of her own. These recorded confessionals serve as a powerful, visual diary that offers intimate glimpses into her thoughts, questions, and emotional journey.

Parallel to the storyline of Billie and her mother, a subplot involves Billie's explorations of her own budding sexual and emotional identity, which she navigates along with her two friends, Jasper (Sam Althuizen) and Polly (Imogen Archer). Their shared experiences add additional layers of complexity to the narrative, subtly demonstrating the commonalities and differences between teenage and adult life transitions.

The vibrant city of Adelaide, Australia, forms the backdrop for this narrative, with its suburban landscapes, cityscape, and beachside vistas contributing to its narrative and emotional tone. The city itself, like the characters within it, undergoes a transformation throughout the film, mirroring the changes, and becoming an integral part of the narrative.

The decision to only film on Tuesdays turns into a temporal experiment that gives the movie a unique form, and informs its structure and narrative pace. The depth and nuance of the characters gradually unfold through these snapshots of their lives, and as they are observed over a year-long period, their transformations become progressively visible, blurring the lines between performance and reality.

Transgender representation in movies often lacks authenticity, but in the case of 52 Tuesdays, it is handled with tremendous sensitivity. Inspired by Del itself, who identifies as gender non-binary, the transition process is shared in a deeply humane manner, allowing viewers an opportunity to understand not only the physical but also the psychological and emotional aspects of this life-altering process.

The movie is beautifully shot and has prudent, tight editing. The film taps into the universal theme of identity and discovery in a unique format of showing action only on a specific day of the week. This specific approach helps put the audience in the shoes of the characters, trying to process enormous changes in small, manageable pieces.

52 Tuesdays is also notable for its innovative distribution method. It was released in theaters while simultaneously being made available for home streaming. This decision mirrored the narrative's contemporary, boundary-pushing element, emphasizing the changes in not only one family but also the wider cinematic distribution landscape.

In sum, 52 Tuesdays is an intimate and empathetic exploration of identity, transition, and relationships, that beautifully captures the essence of human experiences -- be it joy, confusion, pain, or discovery. The film's respect for its characters, the novel filming approach, and nuanced performances contribute to an absorbing cinematic experience that stays with the viewer long after the film has ended. Its exploration of life’s complexities through the lens of a single family's transformations makes it a rich and rewarding watch. It's a movie about capturing movements, both big and small, that together make up the journey of life.