Vivre

I have a bit of a soft spot for movies set in the grey, emotionally repressed landscape of post-war Britain. I also happen to believe that Kazuo Ishiguro is one of our best living authors and Bill Nighy is always worth the price of admission. So I went into this preview of "Living" with high expectations and emerged happy that they had been met.

In a way this film reminds me of "Brief Encounter" in that the emotional tone is subdued with deep feelings left unsaid and unshared. Nighy's character is a man of the age and he's led a controlled, functional life of duty. It takes a brush with death to break this control and to let his Mr. Williams belatedly catch up on all that has passed him by.

It's a simple tale and yet I cannot deny that several poignant moments bought a tear to my eye. There's laughter too but this is a bittersweet film that leaves enough space for you to reflect on your own life and where you might have squeezed more juice from the journey.

Now I understand that the original film "Ikiru" is even better and I can well believe that with Akira Kurosawa at the helm. However I haven't seen it (yet) and I am more than satisfied by this modern retelling.

I had no preconceptions or expectations when I went to see this film. I left the cinema feeling deeply moved, alongside a range of emotions including sadness and joy, amidst a sense that I had just been immersed in one of the best cinematic works of art in a very long time. In the jaded world of today's cinema where nothing is really new anymore, and movies peddle the Incredible, with disappointing over the top drama, this film's simplicity was its outstanding and defining feature. Accompanied by a haunting soundtrack, it tells the very human story of a man (Nighy) who has six months left to live and how he chooses to make his mark and get satisfaction from celebrating the ordinary and achieving a modest but much loved and celebrated goal. The performances were outstanding in their subtlety (who knew Nighy had such a beautiful singing voice), and the direction by Hermanus was perfect - designed to tell a simple story and get the best from the actors without being obtrusive or distracting. The setting in 1950s London, portraying a world of grey bureaucracy mirrors today's corporate, health, and social care world's perfectly, with the final message to embrace and accept that which "doesn't quite fit" sending a humorous yet pointed message to us all.

Definitely bring the tissues - but celebrate it too as one of the best films in years.

A little slow paced for my taste, but I can't deny that Bill Nighy displayed a masterclass in subtle acting. Also I found it quite interesting that he took the role after sharing a taxi ride with the screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro who pitched him right in the spot. That's pretty confident of Nighy to accept the role after such an encounter, but yeah, what a great decision on his part. Other standouts on the performance end of things include Aimee Lou Wood and Alex Sharp. They have a bright future ahead of them and I can't wait to see what they choose next. Also shout out to the musical score which helped bolster the emotions and kept me awake.

Over the years Bill Nighy has become one of my favorite actors. My earliest recollection of him was 20 years ago in "Love Actually", where he played Billy Mack, a washed-up musician who makes a hit Christmas recording. He has a certain style and it resonates with me.

During this filming he was 71 or 72. Here he is the main character, Williams, who is the long-time boss of a small group in the London County offices in the early 1950s. All the men wear Bowler style hats. Williams is always very quiet and very polite, he keeps an arms distance from his crew, not even riding in the same train car to and from work.

As he grew into an adult all he really aspired to was being a Gentleman. Traditionally, an English gentleman was the lowest rank of the gentry, similar to the French nobleman. He worked diligently, was friendly to everyone, but seemingly had no interests outside work. He even had a distant relationship with his married son who still lived with him.

Then he received the diagnosis, he only had a few months to live. His first reaction was to make up for lost time, to meet strangers and have fun. But that was an empty exercise. Of note, during the "fun" a lady stole his Bowler hat, he replaced it with a Fedora, a new style for him, which was a sign of his new perspective. He would do something meaningful before he was gone, he would push through a community project that had been pigeonholed for too long.

So it is really a character study of this simple but complex man, Williams. It works very well. It is a remake of the highly regarded 1952 Kurosawa movie "Ikiru". My wife and I enjoyed it at home on DVD from our public library.

Now I am not usually a particular fan of Bill Nighy but in this he is very much at the top of his game. An adaptation of Kurosawa's "Ikuru" (1952), the setting is shifted to London where Nighy is the fastidious "Mr. Williams". A local civil servant heading up the public works department of the London County Council. His small team has some new blood in the form of "Mr. Wakeling" (Alex Sharp) whose baptism in the department is to accompany three ladies (and the audience) on a revelative journey through the pillar-to-post red tape that "Williams" himself facilitates - all guaranteeing that very little actually ever gets done! Leaving early one day, we discover that this erstwhile precise and predictable individual is seriously ill. Unable and/or unwilling to divulge this information to his son, he absconds to the seaside where he encounters "Sutherland" (Tom Burke) who gives him a relaxing tour of the local hotspots before he return to London and happens upon one of his team "Miss Harris" (Aimee Lou Wood). A posh luncheon ensues and the elderly gent and his young colleague start to bond. This bond soon has - unbeknown either of them - tongues wagging, but when she gets a new job he finds himself drawn to her. Drawn to her joie de vivre and general enthusiasm for a life he knows he will not have for too much longer. That becomes contagious as he decides to apply himself, and his team, to achieving at least one more thing in a professional capacity! It is a gently paced and evocative story that deals with that sense of re-prioritisation faced by anyone when faced with a profound change in circumstances. Nighy has a delightfully understated manner to his performance here, Wood is also effective as his increasingly valuable confidente and Oliver Hermanus manages to retain much of the charm and gently potent impetus of the original Ishiguro story. It is beautifully scored by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch who incorporates original and powerful themes with established classical ones. The costumes and overall aesthetic of the film complements well the classy and impressive performances that resonated in quite a thought-provoking, and multi-layered fashion as I watched it. I was engaged by this from start to finish and I really quite enjoyed it.