Susan Granger’s review of “Living” (Sony Pictures Classics)
If there’s a Best ‘low key’ Actor Academy Award nomination this year, it belongs to Bill Nighy as Mr. Williams, a government bureaucrat whose life changes when he is given a terminal diagnosis in “Living,” Kazuo Ishiguro’s Oscar-nominated adaptation of Akira Kurosawa’s “Ikiru” (“To Live”).
Set in the 1950s, Mr. Williams is a reticent civil servant who commutes to London by train from his home in Esher, Surrey. He is in charge of the city’s stagnant Public Works Department, where he simply moves papers from one file to another with paralyzing inertia. He has been quietly grieving for his late wife for decades.
But when he is told by his doctor that he has incurable cancer, he’s determined to do something meaningful with the last months of his isolated, lonely life. That involves not showing up for work and going on platonic dates with Miss Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood), a former employee who once referred to him “Mr. Zombie” and eventually becomes his only confidante.
Gradually he becomes aware of the need for a playground for underprivileged urban children. It was brought to his attention when a group of earnest women appeared in his office, only to be dismissed, shuttled from one city department to another.
Born in Japan and raised in Britain, Nobel Prize-winning novelist Ishiguro developed the period drama with biracial South African director Oliver Hermanus: “If you’re a writer, you learn a lot about your characters from the actors. Bill Nighy was a revelation. You realize a script is a little thing that people build things on. It’s a fantastic experience.”
Known for his minimalism and restraint, Bill Nighy is a veteran British character actor who has appeared in more than 70 films, including “Love Actually,” “Still Crazy,” “Emma” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.”
FYI: Mr. Williams’ favorite Scottish song is “The Rowan Tree” written by Carolina Oliphant, known as Lady Nairne (1766-1845). It was first published in 1822 in R.A. Smith’s Scottish Minstrel.
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “Living” is a subtle, self-reflective 7, playing in theaters.
