We Live in Time

A great man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” I would say that is true, as most of us seem to just move through life, always worrying about what the next step is going to be like. The problem with that approach is that we often miss the things right in front of us, causing us to not notice special moments. We Live in Time, the new film from John Crowley, gives us a story that reminds us to breathe and focus on what is in front of us, because some things are too precious to breeze past.

Tobias (Andrew Garfield) is not going through a good time in his life at the moment. He is going through a divorce, and while away on a work trip and needing to sign the divorce papers, he ventures out to buy a pen that works. But life has other plans for him. It involves a car driven by Almut (Florence Pugh), hitting Tobias and sending him to the hospital. Luckily for Tobias, Almut is a good person, and she accompanies him to the hospital, waiting for him to wake up, setting up a meet-cute that is not just a hit-n-run. Almut, a chef, invites Tobias to her restaurant’s opening, and the night goes well as they end up at Almut’s apartment. Soon, feelings develop, and things get serious, with even a family being formed with the birth of their daughter. Everything seems perfect until life throws a curveball, which leads Tobias and Almut to appreciate the present more, instead of always thinking about what comes next.

Written by Nick Payne, We Live in Time forgoes the standard way of telling a story and instead jumps around through Tobias and Almut’s life. This might throw off people who prefer their love stories to be more linear, and Crowley, along with his editor Justine Wright, don’t use any markers or title cards to tell you where you are in the timeline. As it unfolds, you might not see what’s happening immediately, but taken as a whole, the film feels like it follows an emotional through line . The glue that holds the story together is its performances, along with a sense of truthfulness that isn’t always felt in movies.

We Live in Time is one of those romantic dramas that seems to have disappeared from cinemas. There’s something about watching two attractive people fall in love on screen that most moviegoers long for, and this film has that in droves. It also has charm, which overflows from its two leads, who, as mentioned, make it all work. Garfield and Pugh are magnificent, playing their parts with an effortless confidence and cheerful care, and they might easily rank as one of my favorite movie couples of all time. This is one of those films that you can’t help but smile through, and it will make you feel a range of emotions before it’s all over. Ultimately, We Live in Time immerses you in a profoundly moving and bittersweet story about the greatness of love and its ability to endure, even against life’s uncertainties.