“We Live In Time” (2024) at the 32nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival

Andrew Garfield talks about his reasoning behind boarding the film. Directed by John Crowley.

I don’t think about the title of a film very often. With We Live in Time, its title acts as a summation of the events and also a final answer to the conflicts the characters come face to face with. The jumbled structure of the narrative may initially feel very out of place for a seemingly straightforward story about complicated love, but the disjointed feeling throughout adds a layer to what would otherwise feel like a story we’ve all seen before — with some great acting, directing and writing, too.

Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh have a chemistry that not only feels natural but also makes you root for the two of them despite their differences and obstacles — emotional and medical. To emphasize these challenges, the film takes a risk by not telling the story chronologically. Instead, certain events, major and minor, seem to take place at random points in the bigger picture, but it’s quite the opposite. The characters’ motivations remain more or less the same and it takes a while for them to feel secure in their paths, but once that point is realized, it all comes together beautifully.

When first learning about the film, which Garfield became even more attracted to because of its director, John Crowley, who Garfield worked with on 2007’s Boy A, the story’s sensibilities stood out to him. 

"I was in a very reflective and grief-stricken place and needed to stop and consider 'what now?'” Garfield said at a talk at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 6. “Life started to take on a completely different texture after my mother's death, and rightly so, in a very natural way... I was asking these questions and thinking about all these things, and then this script arrived that was dealing with the same things I was ruminating on and considering... It felt like I could go make this film from the very pure, emotional place that I was personally moving through."

He continued, speaking in relation to Crowley: "[The people] I find most inspiring are not the people who hoard but those who give themselves away, give all their wisdom away, all their knowledge, vulnerabilities..."

Admittedly, it’s sometimes hard to keep track of where the movie is at in its timeline, but by the time the credits roll, that possible confusion doesn’t matter, and we’re left with characters who have discovered more about themselves and each other. The story does not progress linearly, but a progression is still more than apparent. Whereas other films may introduce more characters, subplots and otherwise sometimes unnecessary aspects to their stories, the structure of We Live in Time tells a story of its own, with promises, apologies and desires all existing in a blur. No matter how confident one might feel in their decisions and beliefs, uncertainty always sneaks up on you, and that’s what this film communicates in a heartfelt and wholly honest way.

10/6/24 - Screened at the 32nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival