What makes romance such an exciting genre is the fact that everyone understands it. Even if you present the specifics in very different styles, it hardly matters if the classic, or to say the least the essential, components are present. We Live in Time, which was presented at the Toronto International Film Festival, knows its strong points and uses them for non-linear presentations of the movie where actors Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield will make every viewer a believer even though there is an expiration date to the relationship, albeit set in the correct period, it is still in the Turning section.
Also, the awareness that Steven did come up with perfectly fitting relations and amusing sentiments lets you know when it is about time to start resolving the mystery of the characters and exploring the evolution in this particular story. However, there are times when you feel that the tired and true method should be employed, and at the same time, you feel that such confidence now garners you the right to go such a route.
The two had been given marriage objectives and objectives almost from the beginning, but this does not come as a surprise. What can be said to be a full-fledged mist engulfed both Crawley as well as Payne as they began this undertaking of attempting to adapt the novel Cold Comfort Farm. Almut (Pugh) and Tobias (Garfield) receive some news that nobody wants to hear – Almut has late-stage ovarian cancer, and We Live in Time sets its foundation in the shock of that diagnosis.
The prospect of having a memorable six months and dying what would you prefer to have such a period but with death breathing on your neck, or wouldn’t it have been simpler to just get miserable treatment through chemotherapy for a year in which the outcome may well be the same anyway? The first few sequences give an insight about Garfield’s capacity for instinctive acting with his face and Pugh’s ability to combine strength with ease. Such alarming stylisms are fabulous as well, working usefully together.
As you justify yourself about the predicament this couple is grappling with, Crawley takes you out of that depressing zone and brings you towards their rather unusual first encounter. It’s not like they were sitting in a coffee house, their eyes met and there was an instant attraction towards each other. While crossing a street, Almut, who is racing in her car, hits a pedestrian, Tobias. Most people don’t consider a trip to the ER first date material, but that’s unfortunate because that will be a theme throughout the lifelines of this couple through the four timelines that this film presents.
Almut and Tobias (the latter clad in a neck brace) set the standards of their growing relationship in the vulnerability of the moment. At any moment you’re ready, Crawley and Payne will find a way to place you in a different time with their tampering. It might be strange all at times, forwards or sometime even sideways and a person can’t tell cues as to when he or she stands in the whole story.
On the other hand, a film so disjointed in its diction does manage to get its point across in We Live in Time which is a good thing. For example, young Almut and Tobias are introduced as having a daughter – Ella (playing Grace Delaney), who now becomes the subject of the news that they both have to tell her during an unexpectedly funny eating out scene. This goes back in time and explains how children had at first not been on the couple’s blueprints. Almut had already had to go through one episode of cancer treatment and this made it impossible for her to have children.
Now push the boundaries even further – how do the different versions of this relationship develop? Almut is a wonderful cook who appreciates what Tobias has to offer in terms of companionship, but she is also focused on career fulfilment. Before Almut, he was in the process of getting a divorce when he met Tobias. He is the one who has a soft gentle side and is ready to be more loving, Hon no but somewhat has to change his normal status quo.
It is very touching to see people who have been on that journey together coming together and reaching a stage of equilibrium. Pugh and Garfield are a couple that you can feel a connection with, whether it’s the heady joy of them having sex for the first time or an intense discussion about the problems, the couple’s actions are set to create that feeling in the audience. With Pugh’s Almut, it’s more about what she aims to achieve with her daughter and the instructional path she wishes to cement for her daughter.
The main issue of the present timeline of We live in Time is Almut’s decision to participate in a high-level cooking competition despite the fact that she is not in a good place. Crawley goes to great lengths to demonstrate how much of a challenge it is to beat cancer, but oh, the sweet relief that Almut has a support system with Tobias and her foodie intern Jade (Lee Braithwaite). While Pugh uses this dramatic scene to articulate Almut’s ambitions and apprehensions, Garfield, assuming the role of her husband, portrays the despair of a man who knows he is running out of time with his beloved.
The film gives you the impression that +ve and -ve moments are merging themselves in a haphazard manner because such is life, a game of luck. Through how We live in time changes perspective, there will be moments in terms of character and story arcs where you will want more from them. Especially when you consider what this film packs tissue wise not even an hour and a half. Or may be it’s because we wish and hope that this couple be able to beat the odds and live happily ever after.
Watch Free Movies on Hurawatch