Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go

Directed By: Mark Romanek

Written By: Alex Garland (Orginal book by Kazuo Ishiguro)

Produced By: Mark Romanek, Alex Garland, Andrew Macdonald, Allon Reich

Cast: Andrew Garfield, Casey Mulligan, Kiera Knightley

Plot: The film is set in an alternative history, where people are grown as scientific experiments to provide organs, limbs, blood for their 'Originals'. The story focuses on three characters, caught in a love triangle.

At first, the film is somewhat confusing. It starts off in a school full of children and they are all frightened of going outside of the boundaries. I can understand how the producers wanted to keep this as a method of suspense, but I feel that when we find out why they are frightened to go beyond the boundaries (a lie told by their teachers) it is rather disappointing. However, this is probably one of the only negative points in the film. Throughout the entire duration, there is a strange atmosphere, as if the entire cast are waiting for something to happen.

The connection between Andrew Garfield and Casey Mulligan's characters throughout the film is magnificent, all the way through, we know that they are perfect for each other and that they belong together. Having read the original book myself, I feel that the film encaptures every single aspect of the authors unpredictability and sombre tone. This isn't an edge of your seat piece, this is a laid back, easy to watch piece of art. We also experience how horrifying human beings can be, forcing these people into existence, just for them to be harvested for other peoples personal gain. It is almost a metaphor for some of the horrific things that carry on aroundd the world today, for example, dictators killing mercilessly purely for land.

But, I do feel that the script was compacted in places, they should've made certain parts elongated, so that the audience could get a better feel for the emotions that really run raw in the finale of the film. For example, the heartbreak of both Garfield and Mulligan's characters, i think the feature would have benefited greatly if the audience was granted a better insight.

The film is most certainly an odd one, and is not something you would expect, but is also definately the kind of thing from one of the producers of The Beach and 28 days later, even though all three films are completely different. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie simply because of it's emotion and humanity.

Eammon Jacobs