Living
Cert 12 | ★★★★★

Bill Nighy (Love Actually, About Time, Their Finest) stars in this sedate drama from South African director Oliver Hermanus (Moffie).

Adapted from the 1952 Japanese film Ikiru directed by Akira Kurosawa and with a screenplay from acclaimed Japanese-born British author Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go), Living follows the life of a bureaucrat facing a fatal illness in post-war Britain.

London in the 1950s. Shattered by the Second World War, the city is still recovering and slowly being rebuilt. Williams (Bill Nighy), a veteran civil servant and widower, works within the constraints of the establishment charged with rebuilding and rejuvenating the capital.

Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, Williams is suddenly shattered by a medical diagnosis which forces him to take stock of a life lived for others and never for himself.

Invigorated by a weekend away by the sea and a later by a fleeting friendship with Margaret (Aimee Lou Wood), a young woman who once worked under his supervision, Williams soon finds a new lease of life and the courage to stand up to his son and overbearing daughter in law.

Living creidt Ross Ferguson

Bill Nighy and Aimee Lou Wood (Ross Ferguson)

Inspired by Peter (Alex Sharp), an idealistic new recruit to his department, he sets about making a difference as a final act of defiance.

Nighy delivers what has to be a career-defining turn in this beautifully layered, unfussy and at times, genuinely breathtaking adaptation of one of Kurosawa’s most loved works. Clearly inspired by the stillness and slow-flowing style of the Japanese master, as well as other post-war European classics — there are hints of Italian neorealism throughout — Hermanus has given us a film that promises very little, yet managed to deliver something truly extraordinary.

Fans of Ishiguro’s reserved and understated style will recognise his unmistakable ability to pull at the heartstrings without ever having to resort to melodrama or needless sentimentality.

Here he presents a truly magnificent screenplay populated by an intriguing array of characters who are anything but ordinary.

Oliver Hermanus has proven once again that he is one of the most accomplished filmmakers of his generations. Here he has managed to recreate post war London with an unmatched level of precision and attention to detail.

This is by far one of the best films in the current crop of award-season contenders, with Nighy surely a shoe-in for best actor at the BAFTAs early next year.