Vivir

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.

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.

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.

Pushed to the very brink of a bureaucratic apocalypse a restrained man, Mr Williams, reaches out to low hanging branches to save himself from obscurity after learning of a terminal illness.

What follows is the emergence of uncharacteristic behaviour of Mr Williams to perhaps enjoy the freshness of life. The film does not plunge into clichés and self pity. It is charming and warm. An elderly man coming to terms of the end of his life. People of a certain age will engage in the meaning as it perhaps communicates a timeless message that we as humans are extremely selfish and fail to understand the society we live in.

I encourage everyone to watch the film, get absorbed in the incredible performances by all the actors and actresses. There are notable cameos but it all comes together in a very emotional way. Bill Nighy is excellent and the supporting cast also.

The film will be remembered and will join the ranks of the classics.

You've lived a life within the bounds of expectation, conformed to all the codes, rules, regulations, mastered the art of the transaction, never looking for reaction, played the game to par, avoiding altercations; but the hand you've just been dealt has caused confusion, as you realise you're living an illusion, blindly going through the motions, without feelings for devotions, now it's time to make a stand, faced with conclusions.

A wonderful performance from Bill Nighy that might get you thinking about your own mortality and whether your direction of travel is taking you where you want to go. A remake of Ikiru, it also reminded me of Bergman's Wild Strawberries.