eNewMexican

Review Living

LIVING Jennifer Levin l For The New Mexican Trailer youtu.be/ovo5klt_-bu

The task at hand has never seemed so simple as it is in Living, an English-language remake of Akira Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952). Screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro sets his version in 1950s London, and director Oliver Hermanus has used softened colors and long takes to carefully recreate the cinematic feel of the era.

Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) is a brittle public works director bent to his routine. His days begin and end with a train commute. The hours in between are a monotony of shuffling papers and strictly adhering to the Sisyphean bureaucratic process. The first 15 minutes of the film convey the stultifying existence of Williams and the elder members of his staff, although some of the younger workers can’t help but sneak smiles and share jocular asides as they work around a large table of towering inboxes.

At a doctor’s appointment, Williams learns he has terminal cancer, with only months to live. So he takes

unannounced time off work in order to find his joie de vivre. He opens himself up to the guidance of a kind stranger, who takes him out drinking and dancing. But this doesn’t seem to fulfill him. He takes the task into his own hands and enjoys a few rich meals. He meets and talks to new people. He smiles and laughs.

In the wrong hands, such an elemental storyline might be cringingly trite, a pablum of positivity meant to assuage the guilt of those the dying leave behind. But a strong screenplay, excellent production values, and wonderful performances elevate the movie from merely sweet to achingly profound. Renowned character actor Nighy is especially praiseworthy for the remarkable subtlety he brings to Williams’ transformation. “When did this happen?” he quietly asks of his lifeless life. “When did I become like this?” It’s a question every viewer must answer for themselves or risk a kind of zombified existence.

Cinematographer Jamie Ramsay suggests Kurasawa’s Japanese landscape with the English countryside by filming the commuter train from above, blasting its steam into green fields. The 1950s hat-wearing gentlemen traveling each day to London are like the bureaucrats in Ikiru, who are like the businessmen in The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1956), which conveyed the same kind of conformity in the United States. The army of drones is slavishly respectful of hierarchy and protocol and the importance of keeping one’s entire personality in check for the sake of propriety. In this mix, the bright, gap-toothed smile of the lone female employee, Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood of Sex Education), is a brilliant beacon of light for Williams, as well as for office new-guy Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharpe of The Trial of the Chicago 7).

Nighy’s finest move is the way he turns Williams’ face with the smallest of smiles or flicker of understanding in the eyes. You can see his character both remembering who he was as a child and becoming a whole new person as he stumbles towards death. The movie also places value on Williams’ government toil for the way his seemingly mundane tasks matter very much to the people he serves. Through Mr. Williams, we learn that our lives aren’t wasted by work, but they can be more. ◀

Drama, rated PG-13, 102 minutes, Center for Contemporary Arts, 4 chiles

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2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-27T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://enewmexican.com/article/281749863488098

Santa Fe New Mexican