WE THREE: a review of "Never Let Me Go"

“NEVER LET ME GO”
Screenplay Written by Alex Garland
Based upon the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro
Directed by Mark Romanek
**** (four stars)

This one is going to be tricky.

I am going to attempt to compose an effective new review for you that does not, in any way, openly reveal the MAJOR PLOT TWIST that occurs nearly 25-30 into this film. Even moreso than this summer’s “Inception,” the pleasure behind watching the second film from Director Mark Romanek (the first being 2002's “One Hour Photo”—perhaps a future “Buried Treasure” installment), is through not exactly knowing how and what events will play out. I went into this film somewhat cold and I would hope that you will be able to do the same. I will be able to divulge to you that the tale harbors a simultaneously creepy and melancholic science fiction element merged with a truly aching love story. But mostly, what impressed me greatly and left me remaining seated for a few minutes after the end credit scroll, is that it is a film that is supremely humane.

I have written frequently about humanity here on Savage Cinema and I have to admit that I would find it difficult to discover a film released this year more in tune with the dynamics of the synchronicity of life and how symbiotic we all are to each other. It is a demanding work yet not pretentious. It never falls into easy sentiment or provides easy answers to the grand questions it poses. It has a hugely open heart while never succumbing to saccharine emotions. It is a quiet, philosophical chamber piece of a film that delivers a gut punch of tragedy. Mark Romanek’s “Never Let Me Go,” is a deliberately paced, crystalline film that encompasses an enormous fragility that forces anyone who watches to examine their own lives and how humanely or inhumanely we live them.

After a brief introduction where we learn a scientific breakthrough occurred during the early 1950’s that has allowed human lives to be extended well past the age of 100, the tale opens in 1978 at Hailsham, a seemingly idyllic English boarding school completely isolated from the outside world. We are quickly introduced to the outwardly confidant and attractive Ruth (Ella Purnell), the shy, sadly teased and troubled Tommy (Charlie Rowe) and quietly introverted, empathetic and intellectual Kathy H. (Isobel Meikle-Small), three Hailsham students and close friends. All three, plus the remainder of the student body attend a series of classes which are decidedly off of the beaten path from comparable educational facilities and to our eyes, seem a tad “off.” Odd classes exist where the instructors mysteriously force the students to produce works of art. Classes, that could be described as “Social Studies,” contains students who engage in role playing activities designed to mirror real world exchanges within locations such as restaurants. School sanctioned Bumper Crop sales of obviously discarded artifacts from the outside world like vintage dolls, ancient cassette tapes and all forms of bric-a-brac are causes for high excitement throughout the student body. And great attention is placed upon the maintaining of the children's excellent physical health.

But there is a darkness lingering around the school. Hailsham is surrounded by a fence which none of the students dare to cross as they have all heard and shared stories of strange, dire fates that have occurred to those who have previously made the attempt to leave. The 4th year students are presided over by a sympathetically curious “Guardian” named Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins), with whom the students all find comfort, especially the perpetually ridiculed Tommy who is prone to emotional outbursts. Throughout their school days and nights, the trio of Ruth, Kathy and Tommy grow closer, eventually forming all three sides of a tenuous love triangle where Ruth and Tommy begin to date yet Kathy and Tommy are the obvious soul mates.

As their stern Headmistress Miss Emily (Charlotte Rampling) proclaims during a morning gathering, “Hailsham students are special.” Very special indeed as we, the audience and characters, discover right around 25-30 minutes into the film when a troubled Miss Lucy reveals to all of the students their complete purpose in life, i.e. the MAJOR PLOT TWIST which I will not spoil for you here. From that crucial moment, the film divides into two more sections set in 1985 and 1994, long after Kathy, Ruth and Tommy (now played beautifully by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield, respectively) have graduated from Hailsham, spent a period at a location known only as “The Cottages,” grown apart and eventually reunite. All the while, the threesome give themselves over to the deepest musings concerning their collective fates, the validity of their feelings in regards to their lives’ purposes as well as each other and finally, their most existential desires and hopes and facing down the inevitable.

“Never Let Me Go” is a science-fiction film without special effects, inter-galactic battles or aliens ready to devour us all. There is no graphic violence of any kind of display during even one moment in the film. It is film that utilizes elements of science-fiction to become a film about ideas with hefty concepts to explore and engage the audience with. Historically, it reminded in bits and parts of films like Director Michael Anderson's “Logan’s Run” (1976) or even Director Ridley Scott’s enormously influential “Blade Runner” (1982). More recently, Director Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.: Artificial Intelligence” (2001) and even Director Duncan Jones’ “Moon” (2009) came to mind. For the astute, through my brief and hopefully vague plot description combined with the aforementioned film comparisons, you may have been able to guess what the MAJOR PLOT TWIST happens to be. If you have, please do not let that stop you from seeing this film as the knowledge of the reveal will not ruin the cumulative effect. In fact, it just may enhance the story’s inherent pain and ultimate tragedy.

Romanek paces his film very slowly, not to instill a certain inertia, but to house us within a time and place, fully taking in the moments just as Kathy H., Tommy and Ruth are ingesting them. It is an autumnal world, with the shroud of death lingering in the corners through the endless grey skies, the wind blowing through the bare trees and at times, the perpetually fading glow of a sunset. There are no primary colors to speak of within the framework of the film as well. Thematically, it also has much in common with Writer/Director Charlie Kaufman’s “Synecdoche, New York” (2008) or even David Fincher’s “The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button” (2008).

Both of those films, along with “Never Let Me Go” are meditations upon death, the act and art of dying and being conscious of the lives we lead, and the life around us during every moment we are allowed to breathe air, regard the clouds drifting through the sky or receiving a kiss from a treasured soul. And yet, there is also boiling anger underneath the surface as Romanek explores the inhumanity of society through its exploitation and rape of the young for the supposed betterment of humanity as a whole. It argues at what cost would we want to cure the world’s worst diseases once and for all. There has been some criticism that Romanek keeps a certain emotional distance from the material making for a film that is decidedly chilly. Maybe so. But for me, the lack of hyperbolic displays worked in favor of the story and film’s themes. And I have to say that when certain hyperbolic moments do finally arrive, they will crush you.

Keira Knightly is an actress I have never been too terribly fond of as I have not been a fan of the Director Gore Verbinski’s “Pirates Of The Caribbean” trilogy and Director Tony Scott’s “Domino” (2005) was a misfire of criminally bombastic proportions. Yet within “Never Let Me Go,” her piercing gaze and pitch black hair affords Knightly a tempestuous dark allure that makes her an excellent source of attraction for the awkward Tommy. In the film's later portions, her shockingly skeletal frame physically embodies the aforementioned fragility of the story and landscape as a whole, bringing the tale to its proper devastation.

Andrew Garfield is quickly becoming a young actor to keep intense eyes upon as he has appeared in Director Terry Gilliam’s “The Imaginarium Of Doctor Parnassus” (2009) and can also be currently seen in David Fincher’s “The Social Network.” In “Never Let Me Go,” he is nearly unrecognizable in regards to those two previous roles and it was indeed very late in the film when I realized exactly who he was. With his performance as Tommy, he resembles a classic schoolyard misfit combined with a “little boy lost.” With his fractured phrasings, he sometimes seems to suggest a person whose mind is not fully plugged into his surroundings but perhaps he knows and understands more than he lets on or even realizes himself. His equally emaciated frame works as equally as Knightly’s in regards to the tenuous hold the three characters have over their world and situations. And by the film’s later passages, Garfield hits notes that cut to the bone.

Carey Mulligan fulfills the promise of her work in Director Lone Scherfig’s “An Education” (2009) by delivering a rich and heartbreaking piece of work as the story narrator, and ultimate chronicler of the human soul. She conveys utter intelligence, maturity and bottomless sensitivity through a sheer economy of words, mannerisms and emotions while entirely giving us the fullness of life within the character of Kathy H. Her transition into the adult character is absolutely seamless from the work presented by the brilliantly cast younger actress and Mulligan's skill in "Never Let Me Go" shows exactly what I was speaking of with her wasted opportunity of a role in Oliver Stone’s recent “Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps.” Romanek figured out exactly how to utilize an actress of this level of talent and it is a gift for us in the audience to watch and become a part of this world through her soulful eyes.

“Never Let Me Go” is not an instant gratification film. It is not a film guaranteed to gather noticeable press. It is not designed to make $200 million dollars within the first ten days of its theatrical release. You will not be bombarded with television advertisements promoting it every few minutes on channel after channel. There is nothing about it that can be defined as “in your face.” In fact, if I have even persuaded some of you to seek out this movie, you may find yourself wondering, for much of its running time, just what it was that I have been going on and on about. So many times, it is that very lack of forceful notice that simultaneously gives a story its power and also makes a film of this nature fall through the cracks. Dear readers, I am passionately recommending this film to you. I really believe that it is one of the best films I have seen so far this year. Because of that, I feel obligated to encourage you as best as I am able to see this seemingly unassuming film.

I know that so many of you just want to be entertained when you take your valuable time and hard earned money out to the movie theater and I do the very same thing as well. As I look upon my favorite films of the year so far, which include titles like “How To Train Your Dragon,” “Easy A,” “Scott Pilgrim VS. The World” and my favorite remaining the aforementioned “Inception,” I would think that goes to show just how much I do love being entertained. But, sometimes, I just think we owe it to ourselves and to the artists in front of the camera and behind the scenes to support what they do, especially when it is performed to the caliber presented in “Never Let Me Go.” Sometimes movies are about so much more than just being entertaining. Sometimes it’s great to seek out something we just may need instead of something we simply want. And who knows, perhaps that need is what we wanted all along in the first place.

Most of all, when we have the chance to see films as humane as "Never Let Me Go" in our increasingly cynical, post-ironic and emotionally detached world, I think we should take it.