Living

A London-based remake of the Kurosawa classic, Ikuru, with Kazuo Ishiguro doing the screenplay and Bill Nighy playing the lead. This version hits many of the same beats and sometimes does it just as well as the original. If there’s a flaw, it’s in the decision to set the story (like Ikuru) in the 1950’s. Ikuru was set in (when made) modern Japan, and it’s a sharp and bitter reflection on the current times, the nature of bureaucracy, and the human cost to its inhabitors. Ishiguro’s decision to set the movie in 50’s London gives it lazier targets and makes it easy to pretend that today’s progressive-state bureaucrats would be different in more than the clothes and manners. Still worth a watch, or check out the truly great original on Max. (Netflix)