Sundance Review: LIVING is a Moving and Emotional Drama Starring Bill Nighy

Living is a wonderful little film about an elderly man named Williams who learns that he only has six to nine months to live. The story follows him as he comes to terms with his terminal illness and tries to figure out how to deal with the situation he's found himself in and in the process, reflect on the life that he’s lived.

The movie is a reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Ikiru (To Live), and it stars Bill Nighy, who gives a lovely performance. He has to carry this whole movie on his shoulders, and he does it with grace. The character he plays is such a dull and uninteresting individual, but Nighy’s performance manages to keep you invested in the character's journey.

As his life is winding down, he is looking to live a little, and at one point, he enlists the help of a friendly young stranger to guide him in that, because he really has no experience. So they go out for a night on the town. They end up in a bar, where Williams sings an old Scottish song called "Round Tree," which his late wife loved, and it's a very moving scene, one of my favorites in the film. You can tell that the young man with him is being affected by him in a way that might change his life.

He also makes a connection with a young woman over the course of his ordeal, and the way she lives her happy and jolly life is infectious to him. So, he wants to be around her and is looking for her to show him how to live a happy life. As he connects with these individuals, he shares his story with them. All the while, he is holding off on telling his son because he isn’t quite sure how to do it.

In the course of his journey, he starts to let his personality shine. It’s interesting and cool to see how the story plays out as we learn about the type of man that Williams was and how his life affected the people who were around him.

I know this story may sound dull and a downer, but it’s quite beautiful in the way it’s told. When this movie is eventually released, I hope that when you see it’s available, you'll give it a chance.

Here’s the description of the film that was shared by Sundance:

“A veteran civil servant and bureaucratic cog in the rebuilding of Britain post-WWII, Williams (Bill Nighy) expertly pushes paperwork around a government office only to reckon with his existence when he’s diagnosed with a fatal illness. A widower, he conceals the condition from his grown son, spends an evening of debauchery with a bohemian writer in Brighton, and uncharacteristically avoids his office. But after a vivacious former co-worker, Margaret, inspires him to find meaning in his remaining days, Williams attempts to salvage a modest building project from bureaucratic purgatory.

“Director Oliver Hermanus (Beauty) offers a poignant reimagining of Akira Kurosawa’s masterpiece, Ikiru (To Live). Nobel and Booker Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro’s adaptation elegantly transposes the story’s profound humanism to postwar London. Free of false sentimentality and tragic intonations, Living finds its soul in the wistful dignity Nighy brings to Williams. Transcending its period setting, Living is a timely reflection on the compulsions and distractions that obscure what it means to live.”