Heartbreakingly tender: Living reviewed

Living is a remake of one of the great existential masterpieces of the 20th century, Kurosawa’s Ikiru (1952), which didn’t need remaking, many will grumble, but once you’ve seen this you’ll be glad that it was. It is as profoundly and deeply felt as the original and as heartbreakingly tender. It asks the same question – what makes a life meaningful? – but this time with Englishness, bowler hats, the sweet trolley at Fortnum’s and Bill Nighy. Really, what more could you want?

The film is directed by Oliver Hermanus with a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, who first mooted the idea. He wrote it especially for Nighy, who is receiving some of the best reviews of his career and who we can now forgive for playing Davy Jones with a squid face in the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. It is set in 1952, with production values that will knock you out, as will the mid-century feel of the cinematography and the costume design by three-times Oscar winner Sandy Powell.