A review: We Live In Time (2024)

Spoiler Alert 🚨

Let’s start with the title—We Live in Time. It’s not just a name; it’s a thesis statement.

A reminder that time moves whether we like it or not, that love and loss don’t happen in order, and that sometimes, the past, present, and future collapse into one. From the moment you hear it, you know you’re walking into something that won’t leave you untouched.

When I first brought up the film to a friend, the first thing they did was check Rotten Tomatoes. 78%? They raised an eyebrow. I just stared back. Being the film student I am, I don’t let numbers dictate my experience. Some films are more than their scores. Some films just have to be felt. And this one? This one feels like a punch to the gut.

It’s been years since the romantic drama truly thrived. The genre hit its peak in the early 2000s, drowned in Nicholas Sparks adaptations, and then faded into the background. But We Live in Time does something different. It doesn’t just tell a love story; it pulls you into one. A love story that is fragmented, chaotic, and painfully human. We meet Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias (Andrew Garfield) at what should be their end—Almut is facing a terminal diagnosis, forced to choose between six months of clarity or a year of brutal chemotherapy with no guarantees. And then, just when you think this is a film about death, it throws you back into life.

The film doesn’t move forward. It moves everywhere. We see the first time Almut and Tobias meet—if you can call getting hit by a car a meet-cute. We see them fall in love, navigate illness, face impossible choices. We see their happiest moments, their biggest regrets, their unspoken fears. The script jumps through time like a memory—messy, incomplete, heartbreaking. There’s no clean structure because love doesn’t have one.

And let’s talk about Garfield and Pugh. We’re used to seeing Andrew Garfield as the wisecracking, effortlessly charming lead—the guy who plays on emotion but never fully sinks into it. But here? He’s vulnerable, stripped of every layer, delivering one of the most emotionally raw performances of his career. Florence Pugh, as always, is a force. The kind of actress who can make even the quietest moments feel like earthquakes. Together, they don’t act. They just are. Their chemistry is lived-in, tangible, the kind that makes you forget you’re watching a movie.

Some will call it predictable. Maybe it is. But love stories like this aren’t about surprise. They’re about feeling. And We Live in Time makes you feel every second.

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