The Quiet Rebellion of Mr. Williams
| Title: | Living |
| Watchable: |  |
| Director: | Oliver Hermanus |
| Writer: | Kazuo Ishiguro |
| Lead Performances: | Bill Nighy (Mr. Williams), Aimee Lou Wood (Miss Harris), Tom Burke (Sutherland) |
Bill Nighy displays a subtle change in his facial expression when Mr. Williams looks at his untouched beer at the pub table during "Living."The expression becomes slightly more relaxed as his eyes show a tiny amount of softness and his jaw releases a tiny amount of tension. The moment I watched him I grasped the entire essence of discovering you have spent your life in a state of unconsciousness.
Oliver Hermanus directs "Living" which Kurosawa created through Kazuo Ishiguro's adaptation of "Ikiru" about a London official who learns he has only six months left to live. The film depicts a different experience than its clinical description because it shows a more sensitive and sorrowful experience. Through the film we witness how people transform into spectral beings before their death occurs and then discover the path to regain their human nature.
Williams has mastered the ability to become invisible while people around him continue to recognize him. Through his controlled performance Nighy shows Williams' face to reveal any signs of life which exist beneath his carefully maintained mask. The staff at work calls him "Mr. Zombie" but they never say it to his face. His paper shuffling between two stacks demonstrates why his colleagues made that nickname. Through his established routine he protects himself from taking responsibility and from experiencing emotions and from experiencing life in general. The cancer diagnosis reveals to him that he has been dying since the beginning of his life rather than awakening him from his state.
The film shows Williams in his genuine state because it avoids any attempt to transform him into a different person. The character experiences no dramatic change in his behavior. The bohemian writer encounter makes him feel awkward because he does not belong in that environment. Miss Harris welcomes his visit because he needs to understand how she maintains complete presence in all her daily activities. His words of "I just want to understand" emerge from his face with absolute confusion which made my heart break open.
The playground. That's what he chooses, finally. The bureaucratic process forces him to build a children's playground in a war-damaged area instead of following his desire for big adventures or making lists of activities. The film presents no answer to this question because it demonstrates that evaluating the sufficiency of his actions fails to grasp the essential point. Williams swings on the playground swing as snowflakes surround him while he sings "The Rowan Tree" in a moment which made me reflect on the secret ways people fight against the pointlessness of life.
The interpretation I have developed about this matter might be incorrect. The basic truth revealed itself to me during my return journey to my hometown. Williams believed being numb was safer than feeling emotions for forty years of his life. The film presents a subtle yet forceful message which states that this mathematical approach represents the truest form of tragedy. His choice to die without experiencing any emotions represents the actual tragedy.
The way Nighy performs in the film shows Williams as he discovers how to live his life during his final months. The process of watching someone discover their missing life experience during their elderly years produces intense emotional effects. The situation does not need the use of "late" as a term. A person should begin their journey of living when they have six months left because it is the perfect time to start no matter what their life expectancy is.
