We Live in Time
“We Live in Time” is one of the better movie romances in recent memory and one of the best films of the year.
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Sometimes a good old-fashioned weepy just hits the spot. When said tear-jerker has leads as appealing as Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh and employs not-so-old-fashioned out-of-sequence storytelling techniques it’s even better. John Crowley’s “We Live in Time” (now in theaters) is this movie.
Tobias (Garfield) and Almut (Pugh) meet in the most uncommon of ways. He’s out for an evening stroll in a bathrobe having procured pens and orange chocolates after his hotel room pen runs dry while signing divorce papers. He drops one of his confections, bends down to pick it up and is struck by a white Mini Cooper being driven by her.
She takes him to the hospital and later buys him dinner at a nearby diner. He works in IT for the Weetabix cereal company (bytes for bites if you will) and she’s a celebrated chef who’s about to open her own restaurant. As an apology for running him over, Almut invites Tobias to her opening for another meal on her. The two hit it off and proceed to hit it and not quit it.
We meet his father Reginald (Douglas Hodge), her mother Sylvia (Niamh Cusack) and eventually their daughter Ella (the adorable Grace Delaney). We see their professional highs and their personal lows. They’re together through sickness and health.
Crowley seems to have my number emotionally. The first time I saw “Brooklyn” was on a flight home from Ireland while drinking Woodford Reserve and ginger ale and I was a blubbering mess. “We Live in Time” is no exception to this rule. You’ll need Kleenex … and not just for the much ballyhooed about sex sequences – one of which made cinematographer Stuart Bentley hide in the corner when Garfield and Pugh didn’t hear cut. (Granted, these are admittedly pretty hot too.) I cried. My wife cried. A gal behind us needed to borrow napkins from another gal beside us. I suspect there wasn’t a dry eye in the house.
The reason “We Live in Time” works as well as it does are the performances of and the chemistry between Garfield and Pugh. She has the flashier role and gives a more interesting performance, but he’s quite good as well and his Tobias is just so innately likable. The script by Nick Payne is occasionally a tad too cutesy, but Garfield and Pugh never miss a beat in selling the schmaltz.
“We Live in Time” is one of the better movie romances in recent memory and one of the best films of the year. I’d highly suggest y’all see it … just don’t forget the Kleenex.