We Live in Time – A Performance Driven Tearjerker
Written by Dr. Zoe Crombie
Film genres may grow and evolve, impacted by factors ranging from technological advancement to everchanging political climates, but one truth holds universally: there’s always room for a classic weepie. Since the days of the nickelodeon, audiences have masochistically queued up in droves to watch tearjerkers, whether that means the ill-fated love affair of Casablanca, the maternal misery of Steel Magnolias, or the doomed childhoods of Grave of the Fireflies.
The most recent entry in this tradition is We Live in Time, a classic melodrama starring Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield that uses its simple plot and the strength of its central performances to explore romance, grief, and all the emotions in between. Moments between the pair are presented over the course of a decade through a non-linear structure, jumping between different sections of the mosaic of their relationship. Through this conceit, director John Crowley demonstrates how their (and our) lives consist not just of major choices and important moments with a capital I, but of the everyday happenstance that can place us on paths we never could have predicted.
Orbiting around Pugh and Garfield’s unmistakable chemistry, We Live in Time is a tragic yet life affirming drama sure to wring some tears out of even the most hardened cinemagoers.
Catch We Live in Time between Friday 10th and Thursday 16th January.
