Never Let Me Go (2010)
Director: Mark Romanek
Stars: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, James Garfield, Sally Hawkins and Charlotte Rampling
You’ll note that this film actually is to be released in theaters this week: today if anyone’s keeping track. So, how am I already reviewing it, you ask? I have my sources! Mwah ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaa!
Now, then. Imagine an English school in the 1970s on a gloriously sunny afternoon, with plenty of pleasant uniformed children – complete with knee high socks regardless of gender – running around playing and commiserating. Uh, oh, look at that – their ball goes out of bounds, over a fence, but still lies very near the grounds of the school. And yet, a teacher observes that not one amongst this mob of children breaches the boundary to retrieve the ball. Hmm. I don’t know about you, but the kids I know are absolute monsters: the kids I know would be frothing at the mouth to scale that wall before the observing teacher could say “blueberry colored mittens” (I chose that phrase only because that’s exactly the kind of phrase that sounds neat with a British accent).
I digress. The point of this scene in act one of Never Let Me Go, with the ball going outside the school grounds is that these kids are terribly impressionable. They believe anything they are told. And they know for a fact that a former attendee of their school lost their life going outside the school grounds. They are, as the school headmaster (Charlotte Rampling) says, “special children”. Hmmm. Something’s going on here. By the end of the first act, a new teacher (Sally Hawkins) informs these kids of a fact that turns all of their lives upside down. I will let you see the movie to find out what she says, but I’ll elaborate that this revelation to these “special children” costs the teacher her job. It costs these kids much more, believe me. The rest of the movie is concerned with three of these kids who grow up to lead their lives still connected, despite this revelation. The three children who grow up are played by Carey Mulligan from last year’s An Education, Keira Knightley of Pirates/Caribbean fame (and Atonement and Pride & Prejudice, by the way) and James Garfield, who’s the star of the next Spider-Man/prequel film.
I think it’s important I continue without letting out the film’s secret. This is one story that is much better to see without having a review or preview of the film giving away too much. The tone of the film is consistently muted by the director, Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo). He uses soft-hued screens to transition “chapters” of the movie as well as the credits. The music, art direction, cinematography and editing all work together to keep the drama consistently (albeit “patiently”) building. And all I can say about the performances is that it’s like watching a baby chick trying to peck its way out of the egg shell – you keep coaxing it to “peck at that shell just one more time and you’re out!” Finally, there is some dialogue at the end of this picture that really hits close to home and is a thought provoking if not challenging charge to all viewers…
It’s been my goal with this entry to wet your appetite for this film and hopefully not frustrate you. Never Let Me Go, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro, is such a unique drama, I hope you make time for it at the movies this weekend – or in the coming weeks as it’s released in your area!