What happens when you’re ready to die but death won’t take you? That’s the set-up for Life Goes On, a short film by Daniel Audritt and Kat Butterfield. David Bradley plays Bill, an old man in a hospice who’s stuck in a loop — every time his heart stops, the day just starts again.
Bradley is really good here. Bill is grumpy in a very recognisable way. He’s done. If it happens, it happens. He doesn’t seem to care much either way. That kind of quiet resignation feels honest, if slightly sad, and it makes you think about how short life is.
For me, what carried the film is his relationship with Lizzie, played by Maggie Steed. She shares the room with him and is also bed-bound. Lizzie is the opposite of him — still full of life, still interested. Their scenes together are the best part. You can feel Bill softening a bit without it ever becoming sentimental or forced.
The time-loop idea is used quite well. It’s not really about trying to escape it. It’s more about what you do with the time when you keep getting it back.
One thing that bothered me was the hospice itself. There’s a singer with a guitar, a photographer wandering around, people coming and going. It sometimes feels more like a slightly chaotic social club than a place where people are dying. I’ve spent a bit of time in those environments and most of the older people I’ve seen just want some quiet. Bill’s grumpiness makes more sense against that background.
At 18 minutes it doesn’t dig very deep, but it doesn’t pretend to. It’s still nice to see older characters at the centre of something, in a setting a lot of us might end up knowing one day.
