SummaryAn ordinary man (Bill Nighy), reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.
SummaryAn ordinary man (Bill Nighy), reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful.
This quiet tale of an ordinary 1950s London man (Bill Nighy) facing the end of his life is a joy: elegantly written, movingly performed, evocatively filmed.
This is a very faithful and moving adaptation of the film Ikiru (by Akira Kurosawa). It perfectly translates to a period English setting because paralyzing bureaucracies are endemic to both cultures. Bill Nighy turns in one of the greatest performances of his career as a wage man who awakens, perhaps too late, from the false promise **** career.
Bill Nighy delivers a master class in acting as a stifled bureaucrat Brit who decides to seize the day before it's too late. Working in miniature to achieve major truths, this deeply human drama has the power to sneak up and knock you sideways.
Living isn’t nearly as subtle as it purports to be, although it can feel that way, considering how much these characters hold back — and this, one supposes, is what audiences want from an Ishiguro script.
This is a remake of Ikiru by Kurosawa Akira. Living is shorter than Ikiru. Ikiru may be too long. It was not easy to transfer from Tokyo to London. Some of the important scenes in Ikiru were omitted in Living. The actors were good. Ishiguro's screenplay was well-done. Overall, it was a well-done remake.
No clássico da literatura "O processo", Kafka descreve um burocrata (estrutura social até então bem recente) para mostrar como determinadas configurações da sociedade vão delapidando nossa humanidade. Em "Living", a proximidade com a aposentadoria e o cortejo com a doença vai criando uma situação inversa.
É interessante que temos em "Living" um tom abaixo do drama similar vivido pelo Hanks, "O pior vizinho do mundo", e pelo menos nesse quesito, o cinema prova que menos é mais. Em "Living", as situações não são estridentes e forçadas, não há apelo, ao contrário, tudo é construído de maneira orgânica e sincera.
Repare que a relação do nosso protagonista com uma moça teve todo um acuro para mostrar as diferentes interpretações da situação, ou seja, é um filme que nos convida a pensar o cotidiano mostrado, e não vai forçando uma visão.
Ainda assim, o personagem de Bill Nighy não foge de vivenciar um roteiro esquemático e até certo ponto burocrático mesmo (olha a ironia aí), por mais que o talento do ator lhe garante uma áurea sagaz.
É um filme leve, bonito, despretencioso, uma delícia em ritmo, fotografia, simpatia dos personagens secundários, mas que não se tornará marcante assim.
(Mauro Lanari)
From what I remember of "Ikiru", seen too many years ago, the film strength lies in the power of a story without frills. The remake of Hermanus is instead mannerist, already the choice not to transpose it into the contemporary age by treating it as a perod drama affects its existential value, sunk even more by a glossy, lacquered, invasive photograph. It saves itself in the third act when returns to the now dead protagonist on the wave of bluntly unadorned memories and reactions.
Production Company
Film4,
County Hall,
Lipsync Productions,
Rocket Science,
Kurosawa Production Co.,
Filmgate Films,
Film i Väst,
Number 9 Films,
MEDIA Programme of the European Union,
Business Finland,
British Film Institute (BFI),
Ingenious