Living

The second movie in my double feature yesterday was Living.  I saw this virtually at Sundance last year and it was so lovely that I decided to see it on the big screen now that it is in wide release.  The always wonderful Bill Nighy is Rodney Williams, a paper-pushing bureaucrat at the ministry of public works in post-war London.  He is mild-mannered, set in his ways, and largely ineffective at his job.  When he receives a terminal diagnosis he chooses not to tell his son (Barney Fishwick) and daughter-in-law (Patsy Ferran) and, instead, withdraws a large sum of money and travels to Brighton where he hopes to live a little but doesn't know how.  He takes a dissolute writer (Tom Burke) that he meets by chance as his guide through the unseemly but this proves unsatisfactory.  Upon returning home he forms an unlikely friendship with a vivacious young woman (Aimee Lou Wood) from his office because he is attracted to her zest for living but this relationship becomes fodder for gossip.  Ultimately, he decides to use the time he has left to make a difference and returns to work to see a project long buried in paperwork to fruition which inspires a young colleague (Alex Sharp).  This is a very subtle character study of a man living with regret about the way in which he has lived his life and it might be too subdued for many but I was incredibly moved by it.  This is due, in large part, to the quietly powerful performance by Nighy (who is nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor).  He conveys more with just a minute change of expression than many other actors do with pages of dialogue, especially in a scene where he reacts to flashbacks from his life.  The production design, costumes (I love that a hat is used as a symbol of transformation), and washed out cinematography are brilliant because this actually looks like it could be a film from the 1950s, particularly the opening credits.  I really enjoyed this exquisite little gem and I highly recommend seeking it out.