Whether you’re a movie buff excited to dive into A24’s latest release with stellar leads, or a casual viewer looking to fill a vacant evening with a new film — “We Live in Time” is an absolute must-see.
Set in the United Kingdom, Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) meet by chance after Almut hits Tobias with her car, sending him to the hospital where their chemistry blooms instantly.
An emotional story spanning multiple years, “We Live in Time” follows Almut and Tobias as they explore their relationship, careers and the inevitable hardships one must face in the real world.
Almut, an up-and-coming chef must navigate motherhood, her career and her relationship after facing a difficult diagnosis that changes everything. The audience is along for every high and every low as we watch Almut and her partner, Tobias navigate life together.
Think of the saddest romance movie you have ever seen. “The Notebook” often comes to mind as well as “Titanic”, but nothing comes close to “We Live in Time”. For the entire 104-minute runtime, there was not a single dry eye in the theater.
However, not all tears stem from sadness. This movie has plenty of moments so joyous, you couldn’t help but shed a tear with a smile on your face.
In what can only be described as the biggest emotional rollercoaster, “We Live in Time” hits every emotion you could think of — and that’s what this film does best. While you can tell from the trailer that “We Live in Time” will be a touching movie, nothing can prepare you for the heartbreak, joy, laughter and stress you will experience over and over again.
“We Live in Time” does not follow a linear timeline, and instead bounces from moment to moment throughout the relationship of Almut and Tobias. Although the switches can be confusing at first, rest assured that the haze will clear and things will make sense if you trust the film.
Director John Crowley takes his time in developing Almut’s and Tobias’ story to its full potential, making you feel like you’re falling in love right beside our leads —- and fall in love we do.
The chemistry between Pugh and Garfield is so strong, there is no room for doubt in the relationship between their characters, which makes “We Live in Time” all the more engaging. Each of their performances are incredibly moving and the pair effortlessly complement each other on screen.
From fuming fights to the most intimate of moments, Pugh and Garfield give every scene their all and deliver some of the best moments seen on the screen in a long time. It truly is akin to films like “The Notebook” that keep audiences invested and weepy from start to finish.
The connection between Almut and Tobias is so raw and real that it doesn’t doesn’t feel fabricated. Instead it mirrors real life experiences that women and couples face, which makes the audience sympathize with the characters through their struggles rather than just watch them.
The performances given by Pugh and Garlfield make one thing clear: These two are coming for their Academy Awards. This duo did not come to play this time around and here to get their long awaited and highly deserved praise from The Academy.
Considering neither of these seasoned actors have won an Oscar before, “We Live in Time” is the perfect film for these two to receive the recognition they deserve.
Great acting is easier to achieve when you have good content to pull from, which brings us to the screenplay. “We Live in Time” isn’t groundbreaking by any means, but it delivers one thing that makes it stand out: dialogue and scenes that don’t feel perfect.
In many romance movies, everything seems painted through rose colored glasses. At the end, the guy will get the girl and they will live happily ever after — but not in “We Live in Time”.
The love we see in the film is more mirrored to real life circumstances. We see real life arguments, real life highs and lows and real life dynamics. There are no rose colored glasses and that’s what makes it so emotional.
Because the characters, scenes and dialogue are so realistic, we can easily see ourselves in Almut and Tobias — which is scary. “We Live in Time” will help you believe in love, but also make you terrified to experience the hurt that can come with it.
“We Live in Time” is a masterpiece all the way around and a film to rival classic romances for years to come. Pugh and Garfield’s performances should be cemented into history as the best display of raw and real intimacy.
Discover how precious and limited time really is and see “We Live in Time”, in theaters now.