About.com Rating

Technically speaking, Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is a gorgeous production. Impeccably acted, with nuanced performances by beautiful actors. The cinematography is stunning. In the clever screenplay, by Alex Garfield, revelations simultaneously illuminate both the characters on the screen and the audience. Yet, at the film’s conclusion, I realized that I had not been moved by the story.

Never Let Me Go begins (and ends) with a voice-over by the wonderfully talented Carey Mulligan (who received an Oscar nomination last year for her fine work in An Education.) She plays Kathy H, a plain and passive young woman. She informs us from the onset that she is a “carer.” In the familiar but slightly altered world, somewhere in England, she becomes our guide to all that unfolds.

The story jumps back to childhood, Kathy H’s (Izzy Meikle-Small) education at a seemingly idyllic boarding school. We are introduced to her her best friend Ruth (Ella Purnell) and also her girlhood crush Tommy (Charlie Rowe). It’s hard not to be charmed by these articulate, melancholic children.

The elegiac mood, unfortunately, does not translate well to adulthood. Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield step into the adult roles of Ruth and Tommy. While the trio were not happy in their youth, the friends collectively become more and more morose. Knightley does a marvelous job at being pissy and detestable and still sympathetic.

Garfield is handsome and appealing, a man worth being fought over, as the two women do.

It is clear that something insidious lies ahead for Kathy and Ruth and Tommy. Never Let Me Go remains grounded in the quotidian and yet the film enters the terrain of science fiction. Our three protagonists -- “carers” and “donors” seeking their “possibles” -- appear to be human. They make love and they fight and eat food and swim in the ocean.

This is an impeccably told story that failed to break my heart. When the time eventually comes for the passive Kathy H to feel and emote -- and my moment to feel with her -- I was only able to observe: How sad for her. The distance was impenetrable.

Never Let Me Go (2010)

Starring: Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins
Directed by: Mark Romanek
Produced by: Alex Garland, Mark Romanek, Andrew MacDonald
Running Time: 1 hr. 43 min.
Release Date: September 15th, 2010 (limited)
MPAA Rating: R for some sexuality and nudity
Distributors: Fox Searchlight Pictures