Reviewed by Colin Jacobson (April 11, 2023)
1951’s Ikiru stands as one of Akira Kurosawa’s best-regarded films. The story earns an English remake via 2022’s Living.
Set in London circa 1953, widower Mr. Williams (Bill Nighy) toils away in the same monotonous civil service job he’s maintained for decades. He lives with son Michael (Barney Fishwick) and daughter-in-law Fiona (Nichola McAuliffe), both of whom seem concerned with little more than their future inheritance.
When Williams learns he suffers from terminal cancer, he decides to alter his life. In particular, he feels compelled to use his place as a government employee to help where he can.
Given both offered English-language adaptations of foreign films that concentrated on older characters who go through major changes late in life, it became inevitable to compare Living with 2022’s A Man Called Otto. However, these two don’t offer much in common beyond superficial similarities.
Otto largely provides a comedy with melodrama along the way. On the other hand, Living delivers much more of a straight drama.
And it's much better. Otto becomes enjoyable but it tends to feel like "Hollywood Product".
There’s nothing wrong with that. Movies that stick with a well-defined genre feel can become highly enjoyable despite their lack of inventiveness.
But Living winds up as something wholly different, mainly because it doesn't overtly push emotional buttons at every turn. Most films of this sort demand that the viewer must feel This Way or That Way every minute on screen, but Living offers a substantially more subtle turn.
That makes it much more honest and affecting. I enjoyed Otto well enough but it never got to me emotionally, mainly because it so obviously wanted me to feel one way or another.
Living offers a slow burn. Because I never saw Ikiru, I went into the movie with literally no idea what it was about. I knew it was a period drama of some sort and Bill Nighy starred in it, but beyond that, I entered cold.
This meant that yes, the movie could feel a little slow at times, mainly because I had no idea where it planned to go in terms of plot - or even character focus. The first act sets up new employee Mr. Wakeling (Alex Sharp) as the likely protagonist but that shifts before too long.
We get the reveal of Mr. Williams' illness pretty early, so the whole story becomes about his reaction, and that's where the movie shines. Unlike more maudlin movies, Living never asks us to feel sorry for him, and he doesn't make some major, massive character change at the drop of a hat.
Instead, Mr. Williams evolves slowly, and Nighy plays the role beautifully. He never begs the audience to love him - or even care about him - so Mr. Williams becomes a natural outgrowth of the "Mr. Zombie" persona whose growth feels wholly believable. I remain disappointed he didn’t receive the Oscar for his stellar performance.
The whole narrative develops in a way that maintains surprises along with realistic characters and a real emotional punch. I got choked up more than a few times, and that wouldn't have happened with a more "in your face" melodrama.
Living provides the kind of movie I don't always like, and I initially felt a little put off by its stylistic "Let's Pretend to Be a Movie from 1953" pretensions. It uses an unusual aspect ratio and it wants to evoke that era.
But it won me over. It's a little gem that seems likely to stick with you well after the credits end.
