Apparently this film is a remake of the Japanese film Ikuru, which was itself inspired by Tolstoy’s novella ‘The Death of Ivan Ilyich’. That doesn’t surprise me because it had that well-structured short story feel about it. In fact it reminded me of the other film based on a short story that I saw recently ‘The Quiet Girl‘ (well, last year) that affected me so much with its close-up focus, beautiful cinematography and repressed emotional pain. I’m not surprised, either, that Kazuo Ishiguro was involved in the screenplay because it has the same nostalgia and repressed yearning of ‘The Remains of the Day’. Bill Nighy’s acting is just wonderful and the stultifying atmosphere of the office is so well captured that you can feel it deadening you.
My rating: 4.5 stars
The Resident Judge of Port Phillip 