No. 15 (2023) LIVING March. 3rd.

 

Film No. 15  (2023)  March 3rd.  11:45 AM BACKLOT Cinema, West Perth W.A.

"From when I was a child, what I wanted, was to be a gentleman" (Mr Williams confesses to Miss Harris the reasons he has lived a restrained life).

NOMINEE : Best Actor (Bill Nighy), Best Adapted Screenplay (Kazuo Ishiguro) Academy Awards USA.

This old fashioned film depicting conservative Britain through the eyes of public servant Mr Williams, is steeped in beauty. 1953 is the year, and  we meet  Mr Wakeling (Alex Sharpe) a young man about to embark on his own public service career. With the right mentoring, could he be the clone of the near retiring, Mr Williams? What, with the posturing, the pen pushing and, ultimately controlling the amount of red-tape a proposed project could be wrapped in. But in this case, he might be lucky. He arrives at a time when Mr Williams is forced to face his own mortality. Bill Nighy brings Williams into a world of knowing what it is like to be living. Wakeling may just have met Willaims at the right time of his life.

Akira Kurosawa's IKIRU (To Live) is a masterpiece of Japanese Cinema. I've not seen it so I can't compare the two. I can however appreciate that the story has its roots embedded in conservative, regimented society. The stuffy British working middle-class setting surely complements a stoic Japanese model. Kurosawa might surely approve of this British version. We commemorate 25 years this year since his passing.   

Nighy's depiction of Mr W is the blueprint for post-war Britain. The suit, the bowler hat, the umbrella. He leads a team of crusty public servants. They are a version of Williams. Middleton (Adrian Rawlins), Hart (Oliver Charis) and Rusbridger (Herbert Burton) they set the standard for why the wheels turn so slowly in government business. Only Harris (Aimee Lou Wood) and Wakeling are from the generation to question the absurdity of their future in such an industry. So, when Williams receives the diagnosis that he is terminally ill, these young minds, particularly Harris, provide a chance to explore life, or what's left of it, but this time breaking his crusty past. 

How does he do this? Well, not in a way that cliché might ring true. No, he does it as a true gentleman should. He learns what being a gentleman might truly be. He does it with dignity and where a better future for others may flourish. 11GUMS.