Eager for a feel-good movie as we cruise towards the weekend? Try Bill Nighy as a stuffy English gentleman who learns to actually do some good in the world instead of just protecting the status quo when he realizes he only has a short time left to live.
It got an Oscar nomination for Bill Nighy, and for its script from Kazuo Ishiguro (adapting the Akira Kurosawa classic, Ikiru) – and with a colossal 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, it arguably ranks among the best Netflix movies available now.
Nighy plays Rodney Williams, whose local government job mostly involves finding bureaucratic reasons not to fulfil requests from the people of his area. His winning introduction is to find a way to bury a request for a new playground on some ruined ground where bombs fell during World War II.
But when he's diagnosed with cancer, he starts disconnecting from that life. He's dragged out on the town for a surprise night of revelry, he treats a young colleague to fine dinner, and he generally realizes that doing something nice for others actually feels good, and has meaning.
It's a story of inspiring others, centered around one of today's acting greats, and is well worth a watch for Netflix subscribers.
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