living…

Moira and I went along to the Watershed this afternoon to watch Kazuo Ishiguro’s gentle and touching film "Living", about a man dealing with a terminal diagnosis (and transforming himself from a life of pointless tedium in the town planning department to one in which he realises what he might still be able to achieve). The fact that the central character is played by Bill Nighy is, for most of us, a virtual guarantee that the film would be well worth seeing… and so it proved. Nighy was his wonderful self – playing a lonely widower who lives with his somewhat grasping son and daughter-in-law. Set in early 1950s London, it had a wealth of feel-good imagery and characters (steam trains, snow, old buses, black cabs and the like!).
 
Wednesday afternoon showings at the Watershed are normally quite sparsely attended, but today’s attracted a virtually full house (in fact, we were all given instructions ‘not to leave gaps between you and the next person’!). As 95% of those individuals attending were clearly retired, it was probably a case of people trying to imagine their own reaction to living with a terminal diagnosis!
If I had one criticism, it would be that I felt the action moved rather too slowly in the film’s middle section… but, hey, it’s a charming, poignant film and I very much enjoyed it.  
I want to be Nighy when I grow up… but as he’s younger than me, I think I might have missed my chance! In the meantime, I'm going to speak with a rather crisp accent, dress in my one old suit everyday and buy a trilby hat (obviously).