Living.

I went to the Odeon cinema in Trowbridge with my friends Dave and Kate last night for the second time this year. The previous occasion was to see Belfast. I made the effort last night because I wanted to see the new film starring Bill Nighy called Living. Bill has been my favourite British actor for a long time, even more so since I discovered that he is a huge Van Morrison fan. I met Bill one night at Nell’s club in London when he was sitting next to me at a Van gig. In real life his demeanor is just as self-effacing, honest, and polite as you see him in interviews on the television. When I met him, he was there as a music fan, not as a famous actor. Another reason I wanted to see this particular film is that the screenplay is written by the great Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. I have enjoyed reading several of his books over the last few years. Like Bill, I know that Kazuo is also a great music fan. I imagine that when they met, the talk would have been more about music rather than acting and writing.

Living is adapted from a 1952 film called Ikiru by the Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, which in turn was inspired by a 1886 Russian story The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. I think Kurosawa has been a major influence on the writings of Kazuo Ishiguro because I can detect very similar themes in this film to his great novel Remains of the Day. The film is set in London in the 1950s. Bill plays a bureaucrat called Mr Williams who works in the stultifying atmosphere of County Hall which seems to be designed to stop anything being achieved. Nobody accepts responsibility, and everything is pushed from one department to another. Mr Williams reminded me slightly of the butler Stevens in Remains of the Day. 

Bill Nighy & Aimee Lou Ward.

One day Mr Williams has some dramatic news which causes him to reassess his life. I won’t tell you any more about the plot because I hope you will see the film for yourself. I must say though that I also thought Aimee Lou Wood was brilliant as young Margaret who helps Mr Williams discover the secret of how to be happy. I hadn’t heard of the director Oliver Hermanus before, but he has done an excellent job in capturing the mood of 50s London. The cinema-photography and lighting are also wonderful, as is the soundtrack by Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch which includes music by Sibelius, jazz by Vic Damone, and another string to Bill Nighy’s bow is that he is a great singer, as shown in his performance of The Rowan Tree which must have been difficult because he also had to appear drunk and emotional whilst singing. That song is also performed in the closing credits by Lisa Knapp who I mentioned in my previous post about her husband Gerry Diver.

Kazuo, Bill, & Oliver.

Despite the grim subject matter of the film, I left the cinema feeling very uplifted because the message is so life-affirming and positive. When the awards season gets underway before too long, I want to see prizes for best actor, best supporting actress, and best screenplay. Thank you very much.