‘Living’: Kurosawa’s British remake transcends Bill Nighy’s career and the routine of any normal person

A film about death called “Living”? This is how legendary Japanese director Akira Kurosawa premiered ‘Ikiru’ in 1952, a call to attention to the monotony of life that seems to still be needed in 2023. At the same time and in the same style, this British retelling is set : in ‘Living’, the alienated official who receives a terminal diagnosis and decides to change his routine and the lives of others is now Mr. Williams instead of Kanji Watanabe. That film barely received a BAFTA nomination, but if it came out in this post-‘Parasite’ era, it would undoubtedly be in the same shortlist as its remake: the awards for Best Actor, Screenplay and Original Score.

A classic but current story

He has to impose a lot to take over the director of masterpieces studied in film schools such as ‘Rashomon’ and ‘Ran’. Perhaps as a tribute, South African director Oliver Hermanus has kept all the look of a classic film and manages to make us believe not only that it’s a film about the 1950s, but that it came out in that decade. Even so, she warns of the more theatrical and analogical air that the whole staging will have so close together. Of course, the essence has changed: just as Japanese films tend to have different cinematic codes, ‘Living’ is a British film in every pore of its production. Far from being boring, Hermanus takes advantage of that serenity that brings drama from silence and humor from discomfort to show off: As the characters try to keep up appearances, the shots and editing times reveal their feelings.

‘Living’ is a very silent film in the narration but screaming in the audiovisual. Quite a paradox, given that its screenwriter is the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2017. He had barely written 4 other small films, but Kazuo Ishiguro brilliantly takes Kurosawa’s place by reflecting on the purpose of life but in a context as British as it is today. Of course there are deep conversations that change the lives of the characters and the viewers, but the script is by no means literary or too discursive. Consistent with morality, its focus is on small actions that speak for themselves, like that very successful metaphor in the dialogues and on the screen which defines living as that child who plays in the park and resists the call of his mother (death). How well they understood that both living and doing can consist in this, playing. And there is play here in both cases.

bill nighy for eternity

One of the big changes in the remake is the age of the protagonist: in “Ikiru”, Takashi Shimura was 47 when he was released, so terminal cancer could collapse more. Bill Nighy is currently 73 years old, but the desire to consider death as a tangible reality will touch all viewers. In large part, this is because he isn’t caricatured as Scrooge McDuck, though his journey is quite similar to both “A Christmas Carol” and Will Smith’s in “Seven Souls.” The great success of the Davy Jones actor in the saga of “Pirates of the Caribbean” is to avoid those stereotypes of curmudgeon or savior and become a normal person. What for an American director would have been a two-and-a-half-hour spiritual journey experiencing all the stages of celebration and mourning in extreme scenes is refined here on a daily basis. And this is where this British actor who incomprehensibly shines He doesn’t even have an Oscar nomination yet. when it even borders on singing. This could (and should) be, for every grimace and every syllable that makes him a grandfather to each of us: he can barely express himself for several minutes, but we love him very much because we know the value of every word, every question and every effort he do. What a beautiful and close fragility that of each shot of Nighy.

In this everyday approach, the film finds transcendence. Just as it portrays the intimates of Mr. Williams, the screenplay is also daring from the outset and with a surprising twist in the middle to also tell the impact his life has on others. And all this in just 100 minutes! Bill Nighy’s very special aura works as both a lead and a supporting actor. Not only is he the protagonist, but he is also the icon that moves the rest of the characters in subplots that are as slightly pointed as they are deep and interesting. With this enlargement they are paying the price the great actor of the film leaves less time than expected and loses minutes of exhibitionism scenes this would propel him further towards the Oscar. But what a nice gesture that character humility transferred into the script to give screen time and affection a captivating secondary school parade that has endured its type well bringing love (Aimee Lou Wood), innocence (Alex Sharp) and even audacity (how fleeting and intense Tom Burke is).

‘Living’ is a journey that goes from less to more. You just have to forgive it for its calm beginning which takes its time from its even more interesting but more fleeting development, and some more formulaic background characters which serve as a mere contextual framework. Even so, despite this very specific context, this philosophical journey is made to excite all audiences. Its great success is the attention to the extraordinary within the routine, without basing their vitality on escapism as they did with ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ or ‘The Greatest Showman’. Here, the office can also be a place to shine. ‘Vivere’ manages to give a light of hope and compassion without any kind of moral superiority with people who are frustrated or who ask for a change of context in exchange, take the leap or go with that already mundane and sometimes complicated stereotype of pursuing all your dreams. With intelligence and heart, the remake team upholds the moral that something as beautiful can be contributed to society as a park or this film itself.

Note:9

The best: its moral is as promising as it is realistic and applicable. Every gesture and word of Bill Nighy.

Worse: in terms of duration and style, it leaves the impression of a nice light story rather than a great film. Bill Nighy’s tour de force is quite limited in terms of screen time.