English star Bill Nighy is so fixed in the public mind with popular fluff like Love Actually, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel that we tend to forget how good he actually is.
Hopefully, his Oscar-nominated Living may change all that.
Living certainly arrives with an extraordinary pedigree. It’s based on one of the most famous films by one of the most famous Japanese film-makers – Akira Kurosawa’s 1952 movie Ikiru.
And it was adapted by one of Britain’s most distinguished novelists – Japanese-born Nobel Prize winner, Kazuo Ishiguro.
Photo: Lionsgate UK
Ishiguro isn’t even a screen-writer, he’s first and foremost a novelist, best known for the brilliant Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go.
But he was obsessed by Ikiru, determined to remake it, and remake it specifically with Nighy.
Nighy has a certain English quality – more specifically a very old-fashioned English character that was prevalent in the Fifties and early Sixties.
And it was that quality that resonated with Ishiguro, because it was identical to the Japanese salary-man featured in Ikiru.
Living opens waiting for the commuter train to London. It’s Peter Wakeling’s first day on the job and he’s a little over-enthusiastic, a tendency he’s warned off by his work-mates.
In particular they advise him to restrain himself in front of the boss, Mr Williams – Nighy.
Their office is part of the Public Works department, where they’re responsible for making sure as little as possible actually gets done.
And Mr Williams seems admirably suited for such a role. His catch-phrase is “file it, no harm”.
And then one day, the unthinkable happens. Mr Williams is late, because of a doctor’s appointment. Back in the office, everyone is shocked that Mr Williams takes the entire day off.
They don’t realise he’s been given a specific amount of time to live, and no idea what to do with it.
The first thing he does is go somewhere new for lunch, where he meets one of those ill-dressed poets who used to infest Fifties films for a while.
In this case he’s played by Tom Burke, who’s rather good at this sort of thing in films like The Wonder.
Burke takes Mr Williams on a Bohemian night out, and Mr Williams decides to extend his leave from the office.
Having opened himself up to possibilities, Mr Williams starts to wonder if there’s anything he could, or should, be doing with his life.
What if, for instance, instead of finding excuses not to make Public Works happen, he looked for something that might be worth doing.
And while he’s thinking along these lines, he bumps into Miss Harris, who recently left the office to get a job at a Lyons Corner House.
Miss Harris is played by Aimee Lou Wood, who’s new to me because I never saw her Bafta winning performance in the TV series Sex Education.
She’s a delight, with some distinctive front teeth which I hope she leaves alone. And she agrees to go for lunch with Mr Williams to the rather swish Fortnum and Masons.
Now before we go further, I should lay my cards on the table.
Speaking as someone who arrived in Guildford, Surrey at the age of 5 and has clear memories of all the bowler-hatted commuters featuring in Living, it’s almost impossible for me not to respond to the almost identical experience of screenwriter Kazuo Ishiguro.
Similarly, the music, the stock footage and the films that Mr Williams and Miss Harris take in are so weaponised in my own memory there was no way I wouldn’t react positively to Living automatically.
But there’s far more to the film than simply accurate targeting. The script is dazzling – and yes, it includes the shock surprise that made Kurosawa’s original film such an unexpected success.
The director is a South African called Oliver Hermanus. I have no idea whether this is beginner’s luck or not, but he doesn’t put a foot wrong anywhere in Living.
However, the film would never have worked without the key performance. Nighy is always good, even if he’s occasionally squandered his gifts in rather unworthy films.
So, it’s gratifying to see him in something that really allows him to shine – and sing.
Nighy has been nominated for several awards this year. That he hasn’t won says more about what it takes to win these sorts of competitions than it does about the quality of the work.
Go and see Living and make up your own minds.And take a hankie or two.
