Living 80 for Brady

The British drama Living is a remake of Ikiru, a 1952 Japanese picture by the great Akira Kurosawa, which, itself, is inspired by the 1886 Russian novella The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy. Living is a very respectable retelling with a brilliant, low-key performance by [Academy Award nominee for Best Actor] Bill Nighy at its center.

The setting for Living is London of 1953, and Nighy plays Rodney Williams, a bureaucrat in the county Public Works department. He's a rather cold man who wakes up in the morning, goes to work, then heads home, then to sleep, and repeat. One day at the doctor's office, however, Mr. Williams gets the devastating news that he has a terminal illness with maybe nine months to live.

At first, Williams thinks he should go out with a bang and live a life of fun, like boozing it up or playing games at the carnival. As it turns out, this isn't fulfilling to him. He wants to do something meaningful with his life, so he decides to dedicate the time he has left to getting a playground erected in the lower class section of town.

Throughout the film, we see Williams through the eyes of different characters like the new hire, Peter Wakeling (Alex Sharp), or the charming young lady of the office, Margaret Harris (Aimee Lou Wood). The relationship between Williams and Ms. Harris is quite lovely. Williams takes her to lunch and out for drinks, and the old man's adult children get the wrong idea. Sure, Williams clearly sees an attractive young woman in Harris, but he just enjoys her company because of her zest for life. Living is directed by Oliver Hermanus (Beauty, Shirley Adams) with an adapted screenplay [also nominated for an Academy Award] by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day, Never Let Me Go), and together they have crafted a thoughtful film that is never cloying or artificially “feel good.” It earns its emotions because nothing here even feels false.

The first 20 minutes feel a little stuffy, but it's supposed to be that way, because Williams' life is monotonous. Please, stay with the film, as the rewards are many. —David Vicari

There haven’t been a lot of straight-up comedies to be released in theaters since the pandemic. Some articles have postulated that people are unwilling to see simple comedies in theaters in a streaming era (but I dispute this since 2019’s Good Boys and 2022’s Ticket to Paradise were hits at the box office). So it’s nice to see that trend appears to be changing with releases like 80 for Brady. The film is sitcom-esque in both good ways and bad, but it benefits greatly from the work of its four leads (Sally Field, Lily Tomlin, Rita Moreno, and Jane Fonda).

The four senior ladies are friends who became New England Patriots fans during Tom Brady’s first season. Watching the games served as a distraction and an inspiration for Louella (Tomlin) as she battled cancer and went through chemo treatments.

Cut to early 2017, and the Patriots are in another Super Bowl with Brady.

Louella talks her friends into traveling from Boston to Houston for the big game.

Of course, complications big and small arise. Some jokes are funny; others elicit eye-rolls. But the movie’s strength is reminding viewers how funny the leads are. Hollywood is notoriously stingy when it comes to leading roles for older women, so it’s nice to see these gifted actresses back in the spotlight again. Even when the film is at its silliest, you still root for them. Saints fans will also enjoy seeing game footage of the Patriots’ miraculous comeback victory from down 28-3 late in the 3rd quarter vs. the Falcons. Viewers unfamiliar with the work of the movie’s leads should check out All of Me (Tomlin), 9 to 5 (Tomlin, Fonda), and Absence of Malice (Field). —Fritz Esker