Never Let Me Go (2010)

Science has advanced drastically compared to that of the real world, and the life expectancy has risen to over one-hundred years of age. One major reason for that is the fact that surrogates have been developed for the sole purpose of keeping others alive. Three childhood friends, Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield) grow up together, knowing that their role in the world is just this–to support everyone else. As they develop into young adults they must come to terms with the fact that life is incredibly difficult, and they beg one another to Never Let Me Go. Their lives aren’t their own, but they hope that together they can conquer their own fears and bring meaning to themselves and those around them.

Here we have three incredibly talented young adults, who have prior to, and since, entertained the world in a plethora of different roles. I can’t say enough about Garfield, Knightley, and Mulligan, as what they bring to the table is superb, but their characters–in the grand scheme of Never Let Me Go, aren’t terribly entertaining. Their abilities to convey emotion are watered down and eventually drowned out by the story that can’t ever find its footing, and it’s this fact that causes the film to fail. I want to like these characters because, on the surface, they appear to have much to offer the world, but I can’t seem to wrap my head around why this story needs to be told. As the story develops at a strangely slow pace I was forced, repeatedly, to question its validity. Not so much if it was at all possible, but rather if I should care. There are two stories that run parallel to one another–one that focuses on the reality of their harrowing lives as clones and another that sees a juvenile love triangle take shape.

Separate from one another, I think either story has the potential to make waves, but together they create a stagnant, disproportionate story that steals relevancy from itself. The story (based on the book of the same name written by Kazuo Ishiguro) is simply boring and unnecessarily convoluted. It never really gets moving, and it becomes incredibly difficult early on in the film to care about what is occurring. Once that happens, Never Let Me Go simply falls flat.

What should be the primary reason people enjoy a film, its story, fails to entertain throughout the entirety of Never Let Me Go, but there are aspects, like the acting, that do attract viewers to the dystopian film. One thing I love about the film is the cinematography. It’s shaky, uneven, and it even appears unprofessional at times, struggling to focus on one thing or one person for an extended period of time. It becomes clear to me that this is all done intentionally–because it aims to capture the sentiment present in each of the film’s three leads–that life, in general, is uneven and uncomfortable.

There are certainly some likable things regarding Never Let Me Go, but I can’t get past the fact that the meat and the bones of the film, the story, is incredibly boring. The three leads, and, honestly, everyone else involved, are talented, but I never had the chance to fall in love with them, or even begin to care about them as a result of everything that the film is lacking in terms of the narrative. I can’t understand the allure of what Writer Alex Garland, Author of the acclaimed book Ishiguro, or Director Mark Romanek create here in Never Let Me Go, and the story falls apart from the opening moments. This massive elephant, one that sits on the chest of the film from the start, hinders viewers’ ability to appreciate what is being done before things even truly get started. I wanted so badly to like Never Let Me Go, but my dreams were crushed instantly.

Directed by Mark Romanek.

Written by Alex Garland & Kazuo Ishiguro.

Starring Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Izzy Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, Ella Purnell, etc.

⭐⭐⭐⭐½/10