DAVID ADAMS watches ‘Living’…
Living (AU-PG/UK-12A/US-PG-13)
In a word: Contemplative
Bill Nighy stars as Mr Williams in ‘Living’.
Adapted from a 1952 Japanese film, the Akira Kurosawa-directed Ikiru, Living tells the story of mid-level veteran civil servant Mr Williams (Bill Nighy) who head the London County Council’s public works department in the mid-1950s.
“Gently impactful, there’s moments of genuine pathos throughout and the film does well in evoking a sense of the fleeting nature of life amid the day-to-day, at times drudgery, of actually living it out. While there’s no faith elements here, the theme of the meaning of life is nonetheless up-front-and-centre.”
Told initially through the eyes of newcomer Mr Wakeling (Alex Sharp), the film shows how day-in, day-out Mr Williams turns up to work and shuffles paper, this department – like others in the LCC – actually getting very little done. That includes deferring any decision on the creation of a new playground in the war-ravaged East End despite being presented repeatedly with a petition from a persistant group of women.
But things take a turn when Mr Williams is diagnosed with terminal cancer, a diagnosis which leads him to reflect upon what his life has been and could be. He explores new friendships – including with a Sutherland (Tom Burke), a man he meets in a spontaneous trip to the coast) and Miss Harris (Amy Lou Wood), a female colleague who’s moving on to a new job (and who’s given him a rather fitting nickname).
Written and produced by Kazuo Ishiguro (of The Remains of the Day fame) and directed by Oliver Hermanus, it’s a slow-moving film but, then, this is all about character. The ever-understated Nighy heads what is an exceptional cast who, supported by some well-shot cinematography including the use of stock footage from the Fifties, do a stand-out job of bringing to life the constricted world of post-war London.
Gently impactful, there’s moments of genuine pathos throughout and the film does well in evoking a sense of the fleeting nature of life amid the day-to-day, at times drudgery, of actually living it out. While there’s no faith elements here, the theme of the meaning of life is nonetheless up-front-and-centre. It’s all about the small differences we can all make no matter out circumstances.
