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Living (2022)

Drama | 102 minutes
3,37 253 votes

Genre: Drama

Duration: 102 minuten

Country: United Kingdom / Japan / Sweden

Directed by: Oliver Hermanus

Stars: Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood and Alex Sharp

IMDb score: 7,2 (38.942)

Releasedate: 4 November 2022

Living plot

"It's never too late to start."

Amid the rebuilding of the country after World War II, Williams is a civil servant. Suddenly he is diagnosed with a terminal illness, which he keeps silent from his son. He also does not show himself at work. However, his former colleague Margaret urges him to find meaning in his life, after which Williams dedicates himself to a construction project.

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avatar van De filosoof

De filosoof

  • 2449 messages
  • 1664 votes

The film may not be intended as a Christmas film because it is a remake of an old Japanese film (Ikiru) but it does feel like a Christmas film and was released just too late in the Netherlands in that respect.

After all, the film is about a bureaucratic municipal official who, just like his colleagues, actually does nothing (the most important lesson for a newcomer is that the tower of work on his desk must also remain high), but when he hears that he is ill and does not have long to live then he realizes that he has become like the child in the playground who does not resist when his mother calls him but was already waiting to go in instead of playing and to enjoy. He therefore tries to live again at the end of his life and not simply wait until he dies. But that's easier said than done, because how should that actually be: life? Eventually he discovers that he has to take responsibility and take personal action, thus putting the bureaucracy aside, to do good things for the community. In particular, he arranges a playground with which he also finds life and happiness again.

Thus, his transformation from 'Mr. Zombie', who is already half dead and has alienated himself from others, to a passionate person who can enjoy himself again and who makes himself loved by his fellow man essentially like Scrooge's, and we still close the year with a moralizing Christmas message.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van mrklm

mrklm

  • 11374 messages
  • 9897 votes

Remake of Akira Kurosawa's acclaimed Ikiru is still set in the 1950s but in London. Peter Wakeling [Alex Sharp] is the young man who meets the stoic, cold and aloof bureaucrat Williams [Bill Nighy] on his first day at a government office. Williams and his team are mostly cleaning up their own alley, getting applications for government aid grants caught up in an endless pillar-to-wall game. Until Williams finds out he doesn't have long to live. Nighy can play these kinds of roles on autopilot and may be a little too obvious in the lead role. Margaret Harris impresses most as the young woman with whom Williams strikes up a much-discussed friendship. Looks great, but doesn't match the original.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original

avatar van mjk87

mjk87 (moderator films)

  • 14512 messages
  • 4509 votes

This film was not necessarily high on my list, but since that role of Nighy will probably be nominated at the Oscars and I always try to see as many nominations as possible, I decided to grab this movie. And first saw the Japanese original Ikiru a few days ago. That is not quite a happy combination because this Living (Ikiru means Living) is almost a one-on-one copy of the original and twice such a film in 3 days is a bit too much of a good thing.

Some pieces have been adapted to the London of that time (the female employee is looking for not a confirmation of dismissal but a reference, the final act is also really different in terms of location) but otherwise in terms of locations (that office) and story almost directly. So right that despite the universal themes, the film must be set in the 1950s. I really wonder why that was chosen.

Visually very solid, so simply British despite the South African director. It's nice that the film looks like it was shot in 1953 (those opening credits!) but there are few special shots in it. It's not all bad, but that's about it. British and mature. The 1950s Japanese film feels fresher and more modern.

The acting is reasonable but nowhere very brilliant, Nighy is not always top notch either. Like his Japanese version, sometimes a bit caricatured. Only towards the end when he can (may?) let that go does he make an impression. The rest of the cast is solid but never stands out, the fresh young girl is also very conservative when I compare that role with her Japanese version. That love plot and the expanded role of the young employee are new, but then again add nothing. 3.0*.

dutch flagTranslated from Dutch · View original