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Never Let Me Go

United States, United Kingdom

2010

103 Min
Color
2.40:1
English
  • Currently 3.5/5 Stars.
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DIR Mark Romanek

EXEC Mark Romanek, Tessa Ross

PROD Alex Garland, Allon Reich, Andrew Macdonald

SCR Alex Garland

DP Adam Kimmel

CAST Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Sally Hawkins, Charlotte Rampling, Izzy Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, Ella Purnell, Kate Bowes Rennes, Hannah Sharp, Christina Carrafiell, Oliver Parsons, Luke Bryant, Fidelis Morgan, Damien Thomas, Nathalie Richard

ED Barney Pilling

PROD DES Mark Digby

MUSIC Rachel Portman

Toronto (Special Presentations), London (Galas & Special Screenings), Telluride, Abu Dhabi (Narrative Competition), São Paulo (International Perspective), Mar del Plata (Panorama), Rotterdam (Spectrum), Göteborg (Gala), CPH PIX (Pix Specials), Transilvania (Unirii Square), Ghent (Out of Competition)

Synopsis

Kathy, a young woman in her early thirties, recalls her childhood years growing up with her friends Ruth and Tommy at Hailsham, an idyllic-seeming English boarding school. The Hailsham regime taught its pupils to believe they were special, encouraging creativity, sporting activity and a healthy lifestyle, reinforced by regular medical checks. The children were sheltered from the outside world, and afraid of what lay beyond the school gates, though this had little impact on their day-to-day happiness. But as they grew older, they learned that a dark secret hung over their future. And for Kathy, Ruth and Tommy came the discovery of deep feelings of love, jealousy and betrayal that threatened to pull them apart.

Based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed best-selling novel, Never Let Me Go is a haunting story of love and loss. Adapted for the screen by Alex Garland and directed by Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo), it is beautifully filmed, using a palette of subtle tones that reinforces the sense of strangeness that permeates the character’s lives. We’re watching a place and time that seem familiar, yet somehow off-kilter. The children look like normal children, but they don’t quite act like them, and their relationships have a slightly unworldly air, even if in Kathy’s case her feelings are all too real.

The impeccable casting of Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield as the older Kathy, Ruth and Tommy is rewarded by outstanding performances from all three, matched by those of Izzy Meikle-Small, Ella Purnell and Charlie Rowe as their younger selves. Strong support comes from a cast that also includes Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins and Andrea Riseborough.

Mark Romanek’s direction is as assured as it is discreet, never overpowering the delicate, eerie qualities of the original material. There are sensitively handled sci-fi elements, but Garland and Romanek hold the focus firmly on the friends and their relationship, to intriguing and emotionally devastating effect. –BFI

Director

Original

Mark Romanek

One of the most prolific and visionary music video directors of the 1990s and early 21st century, Mark Romanek was a writer and filmmaker whose unique and often disturbing visual style helped to pave the way for his subsequent work in feature films. After serving briefly under Brian De Palma, he broke into the burgeoning music video field in the late 1980s, quickly establishing himself through videos for artists ranging from Beck and Fiona Apple to Johnny Cash and Michael Jackson. Romanek’s videos were lushly filmed, filled with intimate and often provocative images, and on occasion, controversial, as the perverse visions in his clip for Nine Inch Nails’ “Closer” proved. The acclaim over his video work led to numerous commercial spots as well as one feature-length film, the chilly psycho-thriller One Hour Photo (2002). The film’s moderate success lent to many other announced projects, none of which came to fruition; however, his status as one of the most talented filmmakers… read more

Wall

Displaying 4 of 146 wall posts.
Picture of Horace

Horace

4Jun13

When you are explained what is what 10 minutes into the movie, you will know exactly where everything is going. You might enjoy this, but... if you think that people are in charge of their own destiny, if you believe in resistance and struggle, do yourself a favor and avoid sitting through 2 hrs of pointless wailing. At least Melancholia had stunning imagery. Too bad one cannot give 0 stars on MUBI.

Picture of atpgaga

atpgaga

14May13

mytwocents/ - Totally reductive. The aesthetic of vintage, British mundanity is pitch perfect but Kazuo Ishiguro's tale of creeping existential and sociological horror is completely lost in a silly love triangle with one dimensional characters that we should care more about.

Picture of Johnny Kuo

Johnny Kuo

29Apr13

Well-made with great performances, in many ways a nice companion piece to DEATH WATCH. Too bad the film is too short to allow us to sit with the characters and get a feel for their lives, and the relationship between the central characters is reduced to its too-bare essentials.

a Smith likes this

Picture of Alexandre Beaudoin

Alexandre Beaudoin

10Mar13

La direction photo, la réalisation ainsi que le jeu des acteurs est splendide! Garfield à réussi à me convaincre qu'il est un acteur talentueux. Par contre j'ai trouver le scénario un peu flou quoi que progressivement tout devient compréhensible.

Related Films

Fans

Displaying 5 of 1503 fans.

Articles

Our roundup of essays and articles on this film.
W184

London Film Festival 2010. Week 1

By David Hudson on October 12, 2010

  Tell @MUBIdotcom @bfi which #LFF film inspires you & why. The best entries get two free tickets! See the lineup & get inspired

read article
W184

Telluride and TIFF 2010. Mark Romanek's "Never Let Me Go"

By David Hudson on September 3, 2010

"Based on the acclaimed novel by The Remains of the Day scribe Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go is that rare find, a fragile little four-leaf

read article

Fantastic Fest 2010: NEVER LET ME GO Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
All too often, science fiction cinema transports us to worlds alien to our own, either far into the future or at the farthest corners of the galaxy. Civilization is littered with new technology and society
read on Twitchfilm.com

TIFF 2010: NEVER LET ME GO Review

By Twitchfilm.com on May 17, 2011
Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is an elegaic, achingly tragic love story. It is a near perfect meeting of a brilliant cast, a potent director wise enough to know when to
read on Twitchfilm.com

NEVER LET ME GO Trailer

By Twitchfilm.com on April 29, 2011
I am a sucker for ‘boarding house films.’  From Lindsay Anderson’s If… to Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock to Dario Argento’s Susperia to Jordan Scott’s Cracks.  I am also keen on novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s
read on Twitchfilm.com

UK Trailer For Romanek's NEVER LET ME GO

By Twitchfilm.com on April 29, 2011
Want a film that pushes the limits of what we typically consider science fiction and does so in a beautiful, tragic way? Then I recommend Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go
read on Twitchfilm.com

Fantastic Fest 2010: NEVER LET ME GO Review

By Twitchfilm.net on September 28, 2010
All too often, science fiction cinema transports us to worlds alien to our own, either far into the future or at the farthest corner of the galaxy. Civilization is littered with new technology and society
read on Twitchfilm.net

UK Trailer For Romanek's NEVER LET ME GO

By Twitchfilm.net on September 14, 2010
Want a film that pushes the limits of what we typically consider science fiction and does so in a beautiful, tragic way? Then I recommend Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go
read on Twitchfilm.net

TIFF 2010: NEVER LET ME GO Review

By Twitchfilm.net on September 11, 2010
Mark Romanek’s adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go is an elegaic, achingly tragic love story. It is a near perfect meeting of a brilliant cast, a potent director wise enough to know when to
read on Twitchfilm.net

NEVER LET ME GO Trailer

By Twitchfilm.net on July 16, 2010
I am a sucker for ‘boarding house films.’  From Lindsay Anderson’s If… to Peter Weir’s Picnic at Hanging Rock to Dario Argento’s Susperia to Jordan Scott’s Cracks.  I am also keen on novelist Kazuo Ishiguro’s
read on Twitchfilm.net

Lists

Displaying 5 of 616 lists.

Reviews

Displaying 4 of 5

I cannot help but tjink that this works best as a novel still

By Henrik Schunk on January 13, 2012

I am still not sure whether I think it is interesting to make basically a sci-fi movie without really focussing on the sci-fi part itself and relying on basic human interests or whether I do feel utterly…  read review

Interesting argument, bad execution.

By 5 o´clock coffee on December 8, 2011

Interesting argument, bad execution*.

What defines the soul? What distinguishes human beings from machines? Isn´t the emotional field, the capacity to have emotions? Can a machine be so perfect…  read review

Never Let Me Go (2010)

By Awesome Barnhar​t on March 24, 2011

We all have probably thought about living forever at one point or another, some desperately would like for this to be capable of happening, others know it never will. Within that thought you probably…  read review

[Last Time I Saw] Never Let Me Go

By lasttim​eisaw on February 6, 2011

Title: Never Let Me Go
Year: 2010
Country: UK, USA
Language: English
Genre: Drama, Romance
Director: Mark Romanek
Writers: Kazuo Ishiguro, Alex Garland
Cast:
Carey…  read review

Forum

Displaying 2 discussion topics.

ANYONE SEE IT?

16 posts by 12 people over 2 years ago

Kazuo Ishiguro's "Never Let me Go"

16 posts by 10 people almost 3 years ago