Still Life (2014)

That was an excellent one.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

This film draws you in. It's very slow but you keep watching. It reminded me at times of 'I hired a contract killer' by Karismaki or the dreary kitchen sink realism in Mike Leigh's 'All or Nothing'. Gradually, as John May pursues his quest, his life improves, even though he is fired from his job in a despicable way. He finally finds the beginning of a friendship, perhaps even a romance but then, bam, that possibility of a happy ending is taken abruptly from us and we are given a corny, superstitious, spiritualistic closing scene instead, a choice the director apparently felt was incredibly deep and meaningful and which has indeed been approved by a good many other reviewers here. Shame... that brought my rating down from 8 to 6.

Great drama, Subtle acting by Eddie Marsan. Heart warming and a must see. Some of the Brit movies make real sense. and i would say Still life is wonderful drama. It touches heart. Uberto Pasolini made a point to get the story simple and straight to heart.

This is one of the most impressive films I have seen. Not only in the last year but in the last 10 years. Eddie Marson brings a quiet resolve to a role he was born to play. A supporting cast that perfectly fits in with the pace and mood of the film. The premise is unpromising. A civil servant in a dead end job doing a job not appreciated by most. Seen as an anachronism in a modern world he does his job with pen and paper in a computer age. He shows more compassion to the dead than they received in real life. He documents and adds a small meaning to lives otherwise forgotten in a city full of people where people slip through the maelstrom of the frantic world and end up alone. At the end of the film I sat and stared at the blank screen thinking about what I had just seen. The last time I had felt as moved by a film was nearly 10 years ago. I certainly did not expect it to happen last night.

Eddie Marsan plays Mr. May who worked for London Borough of Kennington as the man who traces the relatives of people who have died alone. He then arranges for their 'send offs' often being the only person in attendance. He has no family and struggles to understand those that have what he does not have and yet readily shun it. Then his obnoxious boss tells him they are 'downsizing' the department and merging with a neighbouring council. He is told to close the case on his last assignment and clear out. He decides he will find out who this lonely man was and he sets out on a journey to discover this man's past and in so doing he starts to live himself.This is just a wonderful film – full of hope, loneliness, pathos and even love. Marsan is always excellent and here he carries the film, but is supported by a cast who are all excellent too – Joanne Froggatt as Kelly Stoke brings real warmth and humanity to a role which sees her with limited screen time – so is all the more noticeable for it. This is a film for people who think, who care and who want to understand more about life and death – absolutely recommended.