325. Living; movie review

 

LIVING

Cert 12A

102 mins

BBFC advice: Contains moderate sex references

Given Mrs W's chemo treatment, I thought it was a bit of a risk going to watch Bill Nighy's Oscar-touted performance in Living.

I shouldn't have worried. No tears were jerked. Indeed, Mrs W was more put out by the film's dullness rather than any cancer associations.

To be fair, Living looks good - it recreates early 1950s Britain quite majestically.

And Nighy fits the lead role because he has shown similar traits in so many movies over the past 30 years. It scarcely felt that he was being pushed.

Nighy plays Mr Williams an aloof leader of a municipal department which embraces the bureaucracy in which it is mired.

Politeness has prominence over process and it is as if the members of the departments and others at the council believe they are more important than those they serve.

However, the dour Mr Williams has a sudden change of emphasis when he is given a shattering diagnosis by his doctor.

Aimee Lou Wood adds a slice of vibrancy as the colleague who possesses the youth and optimism that her boss feels have eluded him.

However, both Mrs W and I felt that she alone couldn't lift Oliver Hermanus's movie enough.

In short, it wasn't terrible but I am dumbfounded that the critics have found it so engaging that it had been listed in Variety's top 10 possibilities for a Best Picture Academy Award.

This would be a very ordinary year if it wins.

Reasons to watch: Expert recreation of the 1950s

Reasons to avoid: So little happens

Laughs: One

Jumps: None

Vomit: None

Nudity: None

Overall rating: 6/10

Did you know?  Four hundred staff catered for 2,000 diners at the Lyons Corner House in London's West End which was the biggest restaurant in the world in 1952.

The final word. Bill Nighy: "There is a lot of heroism going on in the world — decent people just doing the next right thing, trying to raise their families, trying to go to work — and I see him as a character of that kind." The Wrap

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