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Living
Bill Nighy's Oscar-nominated performance is the centerpiece of a melancholy character study called Living that had this reviewer riveted to the screen.
It's England in the early 1950's where we meet Mr. Williams, a long time government employee who instills an unspoken fear in his employees and seems to be just an inconvenience to his son and daughter-in-law. Everything changes for Mr. Williams when he learns he has a terminal illness and decides to take time away from the job to try and enjoy the time he has left, even though he is clueless as to how.
The crisp and concise screenplay doesn't waste a lot of time with exposition. We learn about Mr. Williams through his employees on their daily train ride and from his heartless family. So we're not terribly surprised when the only two people he tells about his illness during the story are a stranger and a lovely young former employee named Miss Harris, who isn't ready to handle this. Also loved the turn the final third of the film takes revealing Mr. Williams to be a different person than we're initially led to believe.
Nighy, who pretty much stole Love Actually from its impressive all-star cast, lights up the screen here in a powerhouse performance where, like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prade and Christian Bale in Vice, barely speaks above a stage whisper. Especially loved the scenes where he sang in the bar and when he asked Miss Harris to have a drink with him because he didn't want to go home.
Nighy's superb performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Leading Actor as well as a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Big shout out to Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch's lush music score, which reminded me of some of Max Steiner's best work. A very special motion picture experience.
Bill Nighy's Oscar-nominated performance is the centerpiece of a melancholy character study called Living that had this reviewer riveted to the screen.
It's England in the early 1950's where we meet Mr. Williams, a long time government employee who instills an unspoken fear in his employees and seems to be just an inconvenience to his son and daughter-in-law. Everything changes for Mr. Williams when he learns he has a terminal illness and decides to take time away from the job to try and enjoy the time he has left, even though he is clueless as to how.
The crisp and concise screenplay doesn't waste a lot of time with exposition. We learn about Mr. Williams through his employees on their daily train ride and from his heartless family. So we're not terribly surprised when the only two people he tells about his illness during the story are a stranger and a lovely young former employee named Miss Harris, who isn't ready to handle this. Also loved the turn the final third of the film takes revealing Mr. Williams to be a different person than we're initially led to believe.
Nighy, who pretty much stole Love Actually from its impressive all-star cast, lights up the screen here in a powerhouse performance where, like Meryl Streep in The Devil Wears Prade and Christian Bale in Vice, barely speaks above a stage whisper. Especially loved the scenes where he sang in the bar and when he asked Miss Harris to have a drink with him because he didn't want to go home.
Nighy's superb performance earned him an Oscar nomination for Outstanding Leading Actor as well as a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. Big shout out to Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch's lush music score, which reminded me of some of Max Steiner's best work. A very special motion picture experience.