Review of Never Let Me Go (2010) by Paul T — 18 Feb 2014

Thanks to brilliant young actors (Andrew Garfield, Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley) and a haunting piece of source material, Never Let Me Go is an unforgettable viewing experience.

An adaption of author Kazuo Ishiguro's sci-fi novel, Never Let Me Go follows a group of boarding school students who discover something horrific about who they are. Sheltered all their lives and brought up in a remote English school, Tommy, Kathy, and Ruth are eager to break free and explore everything the world has to offer. However, they realize their futures really aren't so bright after discovering they are simply clones, created specifically for organ harvesting.

I think there are a lot of great younger actors in Hollywood, three of which are on display here. Carey Mulligan and Keira Knightley are fantastic, but Andrew Garfield absolutely stole the show for me. I truly think he's one of the premium talents out there today and I knew he was going to be excellent here. The emotional struggle of these characters is outstanding and you can't help but to feel the pain that each of them is experiencing. I haven't read the novel, but director Mark Romanek likely pleased the fans of the source material with this movie.

Simply put, Never Let Me Go is a beautiful film. It's a depressing, tough viewing experience, but it's insanely rewarding. The story is unlike anything I've ever seen, which is tough to accomplish in today's world. Because it's so draining, this is certainly not a movie to be watched often. In my opinion though, that says a whole lot. 5 stars.