Never Let Me Go (2010)

Movie Info

Guess what you’ve been selected for a big honor…to DIE!!!!

A way to extend lives is discovered in 1952. It involves the raising and harvesting of organs from living donor clones.  Kathy H (Izzy Meikle-Small), Tommy D (Charlie Rowe), and Ruth (Ella Purnell) are donors being raised at Hailsham House in the 1970s.  Kathy H loves Tommy, but Tommy has eyes for Ruth.  When a teacher (Sally Hawkins) reveals the truth of their situation, Kathy H, Tommy D, and Ruth learn their days could be short once their donation begin and they head to completion.  When Kathy H (Carey Mulligan) learns that her love for Tommy D (Andrew Garfield) will never evolve with Ruth (Keira Knightley) in her life, Kathy H sets out as a carer who helps donors pass out into completion.  As both Ruth and Tommy D begin their donations, a new hope for a deferral arises that could mean a future for Tommy D and Kathy.

Good times were had by all!

Directed by Mark Romanek, Never Let Me Go adapts the popular 2005 Kazuo Ishiguro novel.  The script was penned by popular writer Alex Garland.  It was well received by critics and fans and won awards from multiple film associations and guilds.

Never Let Me Go is one of those fun sci-fi pictures that masquerades as other genres.  Despite being high sci-fi, Never Let Me Go is also a very serious drama and period piece.  If you just saw glimpses of the film, you might not even know that the movie is a picture about clones and alternate realities…it is kind of like The Island combined with Circle of Friends.  The weird genre switch is bolstered with the nice looking cinematography of the film.

Going to the beach sucks…when people plan on ripping your organs out

Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield are great as the lead actors, but Keira Knightley seems a bit out of her league in this film.  Mulligan and Garfield work great together as “those who are about to die” and both have taken different approaches to how they are going to face death.  I enjoyed the brief role by Sally Hawkins and kind of hoped that she would return later in the film.

The story is what really sells this movie.  The story is kind of reminds me of the award winning Man in the High Castle with the dystopia society (is it really dystopia if no one cares if the donors die?) and the hope of escape with “the Gallery”.  Much like The Man in the High Castle, the Gallery turns out to not be what they expected and leads to a very somber ending.Never Let Me Go is a great film.  The movie’s clever and subtle approach to science-fiction gives it more depth and feeling than many of the genre and allows it to be enjoyed by those who might not be into sci-fi.  Check out Never Let Me Go if you are into sci-fi that is different than most…it is worth it.