Plot
London, 1953. Mr. Williams, a veteran civil servant, is an important cog within the city's bureaucracy as it struggles to rebuild in the aftermath of World War II. Buried under paperwork at the office and lonely at home, his life has long felt empty and meaningless. Then a devastating medical diagnosis forces him to take stock, and to try and grasp some fulfilment before it passes permanently beyond reach.
Cast
as Williams
as Margaret Harris
as Peter Wakeling
as Sutherland
as Middleton
as Hart
as Rusbridger
as Mrs. McMasters
as Michael
as Fiona
Gallery
Reviews
Now I am not usually a particular fan of Bill Nighy but in this he is very much at the top of his game. An adaptation of Kurosawa's "Ikuru" (1952), the setting is shifted to London where Nighy is the fastidious "Mr. Williams". A local civil servant heading up the public works department of the London County Council. His small team has some new blood in the form of "Mr. Wakeling" (Alex Sharp) whos…
This is one of the better “quiet” movies, as I call them, that I have watched in a long time. Bill Nighy seems to excel in restrained roles, where he speaks quietly and shows emotion subtly. I am thinking especially of The Girl in the Cafe, where he oddly enough also plays a civil servant. Nighy is wonderful and methodical (in a good way) as a man who is thawing out from a repetitious, paralyz…