Never Let Me Go
Director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and writer Alex Garland (28 Days Later) team up to adapt Remains of the Day author Kazuo Ishiguro's introspective sci-fi novel about a group of unsuspecting boarding-school students who make a horrifying discovery about themselves. Sheltered teens Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) all grew up at a remote English boarding school, and now they're hungry to explore the real world. Their dreams of freedom are soon stifled, however, upon learning that they are nothing more than clones created specifically for organ harvesting. Now, in addition to confronting their own mortality, all three must come to terms with a lifetime of emotions and unfulfilled longings while pondering their true purpose for being.
Director: Mark Romanek
Starring: Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins
The melancholy attached to the impermanence of life and love suffuses this film, making it memorably haunting and hypnotic.
Never Let Me Go is gorgeous. And depressing. It's exquisitely acted. And depressing. It's romantic, profound and superbly crafted, shot with the self-contained radiance of a snow globe. And it's depressing.
Knightley has the least screen time of the three, and her Ruth never registers as much more than a self-serving menace.
Amazingly, Never Let Me Go could have been assembled from the Merchant-Ivory kit. It's stale with suppressed anguish.
For its delicate tone, provocative themes, impeccable craftsmanship and superb performances-by Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley-Never Let Me Go earned my great admiration. I wish I'd been affected in equal measure, but I wasn't, and it's not the sort of film you can will yourself to enjoy.
Best Supporting Actor
Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy & Horror Films (2011)
Best Actress
British Independent Film Awards (2010)
Best Score
Central Ohio Film Critics Association (2011)
Best Actor
Evening Standard British Film Awards (2011)
Best Cinematography
Independent Spirit Awards (2011)
No lists