Most of us have had our blood pressure readings erupt in volcanic fashion while waiting in line at the DMV or for a building permit. Kafka and Dickens capitalized creatively on this frustration and the peculiar slow-mo madness of bureaucracy, but it was the brilliant Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa, in his 1953 movie “Ikiru,” who found a distinctive scenario that induced a humanity to the torpor. Last year, with “Living,” British director Oliver Hermanus, working from a screenplay by Kazuo Ishiguro, updated “Ikiru” and set it in the public works department of post-World War II London. There, the aging Mr. Williams, stunningly portrayed by Bill Nighy (an Academy Award best actor nomination), heads up a small group of paper-shufflers whose collective self-importance is matched only by their ability to avoid doing anything. But when Williams gets a fatal cancer diagnosis, he’s inspired by a group of women who’ve been stymied in their efforts to build a playground for children. There are forces, at work and within his own family, for and against the suddenly revitalized Williams, but his efforts to discover life’s possibilities are touching — and might even inspire a few folks he meets along the way. A great supporting cast and original score are worth noting.