User Reviews

1953 London, and a stuffy, set in his ways office manager, Bill Nighy, discovers he has 6 months to live. Initially he decides to live life to the full, guided by new friend Tom Burke, but then considers what he could in fact offer in the little time he has left.

Pretty much identical remake of Ikiru, Nighy is perfect as the stuffed shirt slowly making the most of his time left and eventually enjoying it and accepting his fate. Nighy has always been worth watching, but rarely has he given such a nuanced and moving performance that captures the emotional range from fear of dying to smiling acceptance - his drunken, gentle singing when visiting a bar with Tom Burke is incredibly moving. Very slow and possibly not to all tastes, it is nevertheless moving and rather warming, leaving you with a sense you've seen a powerful but delightful life lesson delivered by a great actor.

I watched the trailer for this film, I was fascinated to see it was an English language remake of the 1952 Akira Kurosawa film Ikiru ("to live"), and I heard it was getting positive reviews, so I wasn't going to miss it. Basically, set in 1950s Britain, Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp) is starting his new job at a bureaucratic office in London. The longest serving civil servant who has worked in the same monotonous position is the joyless Mr. Williams (Oscar, BAFTA and Golden Globe nominated Bill Nighy). At work, his office is full of bureaucratic inaction, including one case where a group of parents want a dilapidated neighbourhood cleared out and replaced by a children's playground. This document is passed through the various departments before ending back where it started, and it is just put in a pile. One day, Williams goes to hospital for a check-up, where Doctor Matthews (Jonathan Keeble) confirms that he has a tumour, which is cancerous and incurable, and he has only a few months left to live. Williams attempts to come to terms with having terminal cancer and with his impending death. He plans to tell his son about the cancer but decides against it when his son does not pay attention to him. He decides to distract himself with some of London's nightlife During the night, he meets eccentric filmmaker Sutherland (Tom Burke) who guides him. They go to a nightclub, where Williams requests a song from the piano player, and he breaks down whilst singing. His singing greatly affects those watching him. But after one night indulging in the nightlife, Williams realises this is not the solution. The following day, Williams encounters Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a young female employee at his office who needs his signature to confirm her resignation. He takes comfort in observing her joyous love of life and enthusiasm and tries to spend as much time as possible with her. Williams takes her to a restaurant, and she admits she has nicknames for all the staff in the office, and her nickname for him is "Mr. Zombie". As time passes, Margaret becomes suspicious of his intentions and grows weary of him. After convincing her to join him for the last time, he tells her the truth about his health and asks for the secret to her love of life. Margaret is emotional and says that she does not know, but that she found happiness in her new job making toys and knowing that they will bring happiness to children. Inspired by her, Williams realises that it is not too late for him to do something significant. He decides he wants to make something, and through the city bureaucracy he remembers the lobbying for a playground. He surprises his colleagues returning to work after a long absence and begins pushing for the cite to be cleaned and for a playground to be built. He has concerns that he is intruding on the jurisdiction of other departments but is determined to get it finished before he dies. Sometime later, Williams dies, with his former co-workers gathering at his wake, following the opening of the playground, and try to figure out what caused such a dramatic change in his behaviour. His transformation from listless bureaucrat to passionate advocate puzzles them. As the co-workers drink, they slowly realise that Williams must have known he was dying, even when his son denied this, as he was unaware of his father's condition. They also hear from a witness that in the last few moments of his life, Williams sat on the playground swing at the park he built whilst it was snowing. The bureaucrats vow to live their lives with the same dedication and passion as he did. But back at work, they lack the courage of their newfound conviction. Also starring Adrian Rawlins as Middleton, Hubert Burton as Rusbridger, Oliver Chris as Hart, Michael Cochrane as Sir James, and Matilda Ziegler as Prim Lady. Nighy gives a credible performance as the old man with a stiff upper lip struggling to find a meaning and purpose for his life, after years in a joyless existence, there are many moving parts and a terrific score by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, it is an intimate story of mortality, self-reflection and redemption, it is overly melancholic and only slightly funny at times, I'm not sure if it is quite as great as the original film, but it is a most watchable drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated the BAFTAs for Outstanding British Film of the Year, and Best Adapted Screenplay. Very good!

Nighy is brilliant and retrained - as always and made the film watchable but frankly it is a a film about nothing at all. He goes on a bender when told he has terminal cancer and gets drunk and we see no more of that behavior or the character he meets for the rest of the film. It is watchable mostly because of Nighy who's always a ball with his face of restraint. Are we truly to believe the bureaucracy of the council as depicted here? Or the son who has zero intuition about the father he lives with? All in all it was an inconspicuous ride and an innocuous tale stretched into infinity by the very fine acting of Nighty.

What a wonderful film! Even with an expected yet sudden death of a principal character, the story is more life affirming than tragic, though it's bound to have your eyes welling up from time to time. I admire what the filmmakers did here, reworking Akira Kurosawa's "Ikuru" at nearly two and a half hours by trimming it down to the essential story in a little over an hour and a half. It involves an elderly man in a bureaucratic position at a County Hall in England who learns he has cancer and is given between six and nine months to live. Seen at his job, Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) and his staff are caught up in a routine pattern of shuffling paperwork to other departments, only to have much of their forms and letters return to the point of origin. It can be disheartening for those making legitimate requests, as in the case of three women who become determined to convert an unkempt and dangerous part of the city into a children's playground. After Williams learns of his condition, he tries to take a new approach to life with the little bit of time he has left, but after spending a night on the town with a new found acquaintance (Tom Burke), he finds it isn't enough, and becomes resolute in making things happen at his job.

What struck me most about Kurosawa's version was his acknowledgment of the strangling bureaucracy in government seventy years ago. While for most anyone today, the paper shuffling and lack of accomplishment in government bureaucracy is virtually expected. In "Living", Williams resolves to get the playground project moved from his 'in box' holding pattern and on its way through the various departments needed to attain approval of the project. Unwilling to accept further delays, he stations himself in offices as long as it takes to get sign-offs on the playground, and is not above begging a final approval from the top bureaucrat in the county hierarchy. With his passing, those in his orbit acknowledge his effectiveness, while his own son (Barney Fishwick) laments the fact that his father never shared his condition with him. That was saved for young Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), who spent a short time working in Williams' department; her lively outlook on life helped him reorient his own viewpoint during his final days.

I really wish this film would gain more attention by the general public. While Oscar nominated films like "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever" and "Avatar: The Way of Water" measure their viewership in the hundreds of thousands here on IMDb, a film like "Living" has only managed to attract less than four thousand (as I write this). That's kind of a shame really, and demonstrates that real quality in story telling is easily overshadowed by flashy CGI and unremitting action set pieces. For anyone who wants to enjoy and be moved by a heartwarming and life affirming story, this one is definitely a must see.

In 1950s' London, senior local government officer Mr Williams discovers he is terminally ill and, for the first time in his career, takes a day off sick - an absence that stretches into several weeks. He gets drunk at the seaside, gets addicted to 'claw' arcade games and spends platonic time with a young woman, before returning to work to ensure a children's playground is built.

Williams is played by Bill Nighy, whose previous performances I have found either very enjoyable, or very annoying. Sadly, the latter applies here: his cadaverous looks certainly fit the role, but he delivers his lines in a distracting, husky voice and makes Williams so self-effacing the viewer wonders if he has not already died - a drawback for a film which, for all the story it contains, still manages to give the impression there is not a lot actually in it. (A pointless early sequence in which one of Williams' subordinates tries to navigate the office heirarchy seems tacked on merely to provide some action.)

I do not mind a film in which nothing much happens, but I found most of this film quite dull (tear-jerking, saccharine-laden finish notwithstanding). Williams is given six months to live, and sadly the film seems to drag on for a similar amount of time.