Living leans on the ever emotive Bill Nighy and a non-linear structure that favors reflection and reveals to revisit the Akira Kurosawa film Ikiru in the context of England in the 50s.
It’s a classic tale of a terminal diagnosis bringing a new lease on life. The Dickensian glimpse that puts everything in perspective. In this case, career bureaucrat Mr. Williams rouses from a decades long stupor to realize he’s lost meaning in all of his relationships, purpose in his work and joy in his life.
At a relatively lean 102 minutes, the film moves through the expected beats in the expected ways, but there is a charm to the setting and the structure. And a palpable sorrow in Nighy’s performance that renders everything affecting, if not particularly fresh.
Alex Sharp’s wide-eyed Peter Wakeling is Mr, Williams’ newest report and the film’s secret weapon. His gaze is our gaze, first recognizing Mr. Williams as we meet him and detecting the change in him. A young man with the empathy to appreciate and old man’s journey and take the lessons from it. Living is at its best in the moments Mr. Wakeling and his coworkers take us back to sequences we’ve already seen and fill in the gaps. Their astonishment not only tells us more of Mr. Williams after, but so much of who he was before.
Kurosawa was nothing if not a storyteller led by ethos — decades removed and dressed up with modern talent, it’s still the beating heart that makes this now cliche narrative feel successful, if not transcendent.
Living is well rendered and well acted, but the sense that perhaps it could have done more, been more, shown more, lingers even after the screen fades to black.