Honestly, I couldn't be more upset about how awful this film is. It doesn't feel like a remake, it feels like plagiarism. At the midpoint just when Nighy actually comes to life for a half second instead of being a walking corpse in need of an eternal nap, the film steals the exact same structure from Kurosawa's masterpiece Ikiru. Just when the film comes to life for literally less than one minute, it pulls the rug out and returns to being the dull, mopey, sappy, saccharine, snoozefest pabulum it's so dead set on being.
The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that if these people can get paid to make a movie as bereft of the human spirit as this film is, well then there is hope for any filmmaker out there. Because, truly so little invention went into this, it's frankly appalling.
I'm appalled by all the awards and nominations being showered on this shameful act of copycatting. There isn't an ounce of creativity or artistry in this movie. How can you take Kurosawa's masterpiece, one of the greatest films in the history of cinema, and say I'm going to make a garbage Netflix movie out of it with boring shot-reverse-shot TV cutting patterns!? It's beyond the pale. And then to nominate it for Best Adapted Screenplay after they've sucked all the life out of the original, it boggles the mind!? If they just made this a streaming movie, I wouldn't have cared. Give the lazy couch surfing, iphone watching masses their pablum to slurp on. But to have the gall to put this in theatres and gussy it up as if it's a prestige movie is shameful and appalling. (Yes, I keep saying "appalling," because that's just what this is, and if Nighy can keep saying "what a bore" throughout a movie that is a literal giant bore from start to finish, then I've got my own repetition license too.)
First of all, I've been a Bill Nighy fan for as long as I can remember. And that's really the only reason I went to a theatre and bought a ticket to see this movie, and risked my life in rush hour traffic to get there. I legit almost got hit by an Uber while crossing with the right of way within the pedestrian markings because I was hustling to get to the screening. (Imagine being so full of life. I know it's hard after seeing this movie.) To think I could have ended up hospitalized for this utter tripe.
Nighy should have turned this down. He's a great character actor, but doesn't have the range for a lead of this caliber. (Sleeping through a major section of the story and hiding in the shadows of the bar is not an acting choice.) More to the point though is that he is no longer in the casting range to play a "father" especially not a 1950's father. There was no such thing as "old dad" syndrome in the '50's. And even today he is well beyond "old dad" casting. He is well and fully into grandfather territory. So getting diagnosed at his age is not exactly a massive tug on the heart strings. It's well within a person's time to go, eliciting low wattage on the empathy scale.
The girl who is supposed to remind him of the vibrance of youth is as dull as they come. I know the director previously made a gay army movie and it clearly shows, as there isn't an ounce of straight sexuality in this film. Even the stripper, who in Kurosawa's film is shot in the most iconic way and immediately gets a rise out of Shimura's Watanabe. Here she is a dumpy broad left over from a Dove commercial that makes you want to look away. Hardly any reason to go on living. And Nighy's not even awake to see her. Ridiculous. And his tour guide through what is supposed to be a carnival of pleasures is just some schlub guy who has no life in him either. He also has this distractingly odd Stacey Keatch doppelgänger thing going on but, of course, with zero element of danger or intrigue to him.
This is really one of the most garbage remakes I've ever seen. It's inexcusably bad. I urge you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! Get a free trial to The Criterion Channel and watch IKIRU! Or find it on Kanopy, Or just rent it. Please, you must. It is one of the greatest films of all time. It is better than Citizen Kane. I kid you not. Please, for the love of God, don't watch this garbage movie.
The only positive thing I can say about this movie is that if these people can get paid to make a movie as bereft of the human spirit as this film is, well then there is hope for any filmmaker out there. Because, truly so little invention went into this, it's frankly appalling.
I'm appalled by all the awards and nominations being showered on this shameful act of copycatting. There isn't an ounce of creativity or artistry in this movie. How can you take Kurosawa's masterpiece, one of the greatest films in the history of cinema, and say I'm going to make a garbage Netflix movie out of it with boring shot-reverse-shot TV cutting patterns!? It's beyond the pale. And then to nominate it for Best Adapted Screenplay after they've sucked all the life out of the original, it boggles the mind!? If they just made this a streaming movie, I wouldn't have cared. Give the lazy couch surfing, iphone watching masses their pablum to slurp on. But to have the gall to put this in theatres and gussy it up as if it's a prestige movie is shameful and appalling. (Yes, I keep saying "appalling," because that's just what this is, and if Nighy can keep saying "what a bore" throughout a movie that is a literal giant bore from start to finish, then I've got my own repetition license too.)
First of all, I've been a Bill Nighy fan for as long as I can remember. And that's really the only reason I went to a theatre and bought a ticket to see this movie, and risked my life in rush hour traffic to get there. I legit almost got hit by an Uber while crossing with the right of way within the pedestrian markings because I was hustling to get to the screening. (Imagine being so full of life. I know it's hard after seeing this movie.) To think I could have ended up hospitalized for this utter tripe.
Nighy should have turned this down. He's a great character actor, but doesn't have the range for a lead of this caliber. (Sleeping through a major section of the story and hiding in the shadows of the bar is not an acting choice.) More to the point though is that he is no longer in the casting range to play a "father" especially not a 1950's father. There was no such thing as "old dad" syndrome in the '50's. And even today he is well beyond "old dad" casting. He is well and fully into grandfather territory. So getting diagnosed at his age is not exactly a massive tug on the heart strings. It's well within a person's time to go, eliciting low wattage on the empathy scale.
The girl who is supposed to remind him of the vibrance of youth is as dull as they come. I know the director previously made a gay army movie and it clearly shows, as there isn't an ounce of straight sexuality in this film. Even the stripper, who in Kurosawa's film is shot in the most iconic way and immediately gets a rise out of Shimura's Watanabe. Here she is a dumpy broad left over from a Dove commercial that makes you want to look away. Hardly any reason to go on living. And Nighy's not even awake to see her. Ridiculous. And his tour guide through what is supposed to be a carnival of pleasures is just some schlub guy who has no life in him either. He also has this distractingly odd Stacey Keatch doppelgänger thing going on but, of course, with zero element of danger or intrigue to him.
This is really one of the most garbage remakes I've ever seen. It's inexcusably bad. I urge you PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, DO NOT WATCH THIS MOVIE! Get a free trial to The Criterion Channel and watch IKIRU! Or find it on Kanopy, Or just rent it. Please, you must. It is one of the greatest films of all time. It is better than Citizen Kane. I kid you not. Please, for the love of God, don't watch this garbage movie.