We Live in Time rides out a thin, scattered story on the backs of its two leads
Somewhere between the time-jumping emotional cuteness of About Time and the grounded indieness of Like Crazy lives the new romantic drama We Live in Time from director John Crowley (Brooklyn). Many of the films within this genre tend to live or die according to the chemistry between their two leads. Whereas everything around the two leads – the jokes, the sub-plots, the meet-cute setups, the best friends – are truly secondary, unable to sway whether a film is considered effective. The chemistry between Florence Pugh (Little Women) and Andrew Garfield (The Social Network) in We Live in Time is the movie’s biggest strength, and raises the film’s level of emotional effectiveness. However, the secondary factors fail by comparison, leaving the film fizzling in its search for more laughs and more profound meaning within its vignette structure.
Andrew Garfield plays Tobias, a brand ambassador for Weetabix, a popular cereal in the UK, who is going through a divorce when he meets (in classic meet-cute fashion) Almut, played by Florence Pugh, a chef with big career aspirations. We follow them back-and-forth in time as they experience a lustful honeymoon period, navigate career opportunities, and start a family, all against the backdrop of a difficult situation that challenges their time together. We Live in Time generally unfolds as a series of snapshots, some informing others that took place before, while others are disconnected, all leading toward a finale at a culinary competition. Nothing that happens in the film is wholly unexpected, though the performances are strong enough that when a character is surprised by new information, the viewer feels it too. The spattering of sequences that don’t feature Tobias and Pugh together, however, are devoid of energy and meaning.
Operating on comedic vibes is a specialty of director Richard Curtis (About Time; Love Actually; Four Weddings and a Funeral). Unlike Curtis’s work, We Live in Time constantly cuts away from scenes before they reach their (potential) humor apex, bringing the scene to, or moving onto a new scene that, grounds the story back into its dramatic foundation. That being said, there is one particularly unforgettable moment in the middle of the film that doesn’t shy away from its unbelievably humorous setup, thus delivering a memorably funny and moving scene that ends with a Curtis-esque punchline.
We Live in Time isn’t so much an emotional gut-punch as it is an emotional gut-poke. Crowley chooses to show a few emotional highs and lows within Tobias and Almut’s time together, but focuses instead on the moments in the middle that could be seen as inconsequential but turn out to be more meaningful in the end. It’s a good and profound message, but it results in a story that lacks narrative momentum and a cathartic finale. Time spent with Garfield and Pugh is time well-spent nonetheless, as the two actors portray a deep romance with vivacity and charm, even when the plot around them doesn’t quite solidify. Or as Chef Almut may suggest — the ingredients are top quality, the flavors are stellar, but the meal isn’t filling.
—–
We Live in Time opens in theaters on Friday, October 18th.
