Living – A Timeless Character Study Remake

Living is a British remake of the classic 1952 film Ikiru directed by Akira Kurosawa. Living follows Mr. Williams (Nighy), a veteran civil servant and bureaucratic cog during the rebuilding of Post-World War II Britain who expertly pushes paperwork around a government office and finds little excitement, humor, or joy in his life. Once he’s diagnosed with a fatal illness, he begins to reckon with his existence, stops showing up to work and starts to learn how to fully live life again. Living had its world premiere at the Sundance film festival last January and screened at other film festivals throughout the year such as TIFF, AFI fest, and the BFI London Film Festival before picking up two academy award nominations for Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Actor last month. The film is a powerful, delicate, and timeless character study that explores mortality and what it means to truly live in the moment that almost any audience member can connect with.

There’s a lot of great things to takeaway from Oliver Hermanus’ Living but the biggest and the one that’s been the most loudly praised since it’s world premiere (and rightfully so) is Nighy’s absolutely brilliant lead performance as Mr. Williams. Nighy gives one of the finest performances of his long career, delivering a very subdued and deeply personal performance that he clearly poured his entire heart and soul into. While the character could’ve come across as very dry and uninteresting protagonist to follow, Nighy’s excellent work makes the character’s journey throughout the film even more emotional, earnest, and fulfilling. Nighy absolutely earned his Best Actor nomination and seeing his work here is sure to have many questioning how he’s never been nominated before considering his terrific body of work.

While the film mostly revolves around Mr. Williams, it’s the relationships and their impact on him following his grim diagnosis where the it truly shines especially with the unexpected friendship he begins to form with the much younger Margaret played wonderfully by Aimee Lou Wood. The film is at it’s most tender, funny, and heartwarming when the two share the screen because of their strong chemistry. Their scenes are also some of the most impactful and quietly devastating. The supporting performances from Alex Sharp and Tom Burke are strong as well and both have some great moments with Mr. Williams. The only real relationship that doesn’t get explored as much as it should’ve been was the strained relationship between he and his son. The film hints at a bigger or more satisfying revolution but by the time it ends, it never quite gets there and feels like that arc doesn’t properly wrap up as well as it could have.

This is a very old-fashioned film, from the way it’s filmed, to the pacing, to the structure, and thankfully that really works for the story it’s telling. The film feels like the type of character study audiences rarely see anymore while it helps that Kazuo Ishiguro’s screenplay and Hermanus’s direction are nothing short of fantastic, each adding to the film in unexpected ways. The cinematography from Jamie D. Ramsay captures the look and feel of 1950’s London to near perfection and Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch’s melancholic score was a nice touch.

Where the film arguably falters is with its third act. Though still a perfectly fine way to end this story, it’s still unclear if its execution was as good as it was for the previous two acts. If anything, Living is absolutely worth a watch for Nighy’s remarkable lead performance if nothing else. He is absolutely fantastic and delivers what might be the best performance of his career while the film explores what it means to be alive in a way that will likely win over any audience member willing to watch a mature handling of the subject matter.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/