MOST PEOPLE DIE ON SUNDAYS

(director/writer: Iair Said; cinematographer: Giovanni Cimarosti; editor: Flor Efron; cast: Rita Cortese (Dora), Julianna Gatas (Elisa), Lair Said (David), Antonia Zegers (Silvia); Runtime: 73; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Nicolas Avruj; Big World Pictures; 2024-Argentina/Italy/Switzerland-in Spanish with English subtitles)

“Quirky and meandering drama.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Argentinian director/writer Iair Said (“Flora’s Life is No Picnic”) also stars in this quirky and meandering drama. It’s a fictionalized version on what actually happened when Lair’s real father died. It plays out as a coming-of-age film, where the reality of death emotionally touches the lost soul main character.


The overweight Argentinian David (Lair Said) is a Jewish, middle-class, nerdy, gay man in his mid-30s. He’s been for the last year a student in Rome who, despite his fear of flying, flies home to Buenos Aires after the death of his uncle (Antonia Zegers). Once home, David learns that his distressed mother Dora (Rita Cortese) will disconnect his father’s respirator after he’s been in a coma at a local clinic for a year and shows no signs of recovering despite looked after by medical experts.

The aimless David lives at home and reconnects with his large Jewish family. He has affairs with any man who takes an interest in him. But he leads an uninteresting life, as we see him take driving lessons, attend a gay party where he must wear blue lipstick to be admitted, and takes part in a traditional family Passover seder.

David comes across as a sympathetic and self-effacing schlub who always seems to be under distress.

In the Jewish religion if someone dies on a Friday or Saturday they can’t be buried until Sunday, which explains what the title is getting at when it tells us that most people die on Sunday.

It played at the Cannes Film Festival.

REVIEWED ON 4/23/2025  GRADE: B

dennisschwartzreviews.com