by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $14.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Florence Pugh, Andrew Garfield, Douglas Hodge, Nikhil Parmar, Kerry Godliman, Lee Braithwaite
Intro:
… a regular story elevated by effective form-follows-function direction and a cast that can do no wrong.
Picking back up from the infamous flop The Goldfinch, director John Crowley returns to the inescapable warmth and relatability that he showed with Brooklyn in what, as read, is a fairly standard take on a romance. Albeit a shuffled one, as it’s presented out-of-order throughout.
Working from Nick Payne’s adapted script from his own stage play of the same name, the protagonists frequently struggle with the conflict between living in the moment vs. planning for what comes next…
While everyone, even the supporting cast, are given ample material to work with (Douglas Hodge an absolute legend as Andrew Garfield’s dad, Nikhil Parmar and Kerry Godliman as the kind of people you’d want to help you out from an unfortunate visit to a petrol station, Lee Braithwaite kicking in the door with her debut as Florence Pugh’s commis chef), it is ultimately down to the leads.
Beyond how instantly and consistently good Garfield and Pugh are together, the way that they bring the most natural aspects out of the ordinary is particularly commendable. The script is half-and-half in its willingness to avoid the triteness of the romance genre (it weaves around the more annoying cliches, while swerving directly into some of the lesser ones), whether it’s a rather prickly reaction to declaring one’s love, railing against the fear of being forgotten by loved ones, or just sharing a pack of Jaffa Cakes in the bath, the exceptional leads make it work.
We Live in Time is a regular story elevated by effective form-follows-function direction and a cast that can do no wrong. A rom-dramedy and cancer drama (two sub-genres that often fall into familiarity in the mainstream), it utterly devotes itself to being as convicting as possible, and largely succeeds off the back of Garfield and Pugh continuing to reveal new extents to their respective ranges. As glib as it would be to just say “it stars these two and they’re in love; what else do you need?”, when it works this well… yep, what else do you need?
