LIVING

 Kurosawa transformed Tolstoy's novella "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" into "Ikiru", the study of an elderly man dying of cancer in post-war Japan and in "Living" director Oliver Hermanus has transformed Kurosawa's version into the story of an elderly civil servant, (Bill Nighy), dying of cancer in 1950's London. While never really aspiring to reach the heights of Kurosawa's masterpiece, (often sited among the best films ever made), Hermanus has nevertheless created a deeply moving and surprisingly unsentimental film that, thanks to superb cinematography and design, actually looks like it might have been filmed in the period in which it's set.

While certainly different from the Kurosawa version it can't be considered a poor cousin with Kazuo Ishiguro's brilliant screenplay honoring the maestro at every turn and with Nighy turning in a career-best performance. In fact, there is nothing in the film with which I can find fault, (the entire supporting cast are superb). Of course, it could have been crushingly gloomy but Hermanus, Ishiguro and Nighy imbue it with the lightest of touches making the least likely of sceanarios plausible. Ultimately it may be a film about the death of a human being and yet I found it among the most life-affirming of films.