Never Let me Go is a Sci Fi film without Sci fi in it. Yes I'm serious thats how this film is advertised.
Of course on watching Never Let Me Go, it comes across as a serious drama film, no aliens, space ships or references to Star Trek to be seen. I won't spoil the plot or why Sci Fi is breathed into this film even though the reasons become fairly predictable.
What I will mention about the plot is the film follows three friends Kathy, Tommy and Ruth as they evolve from a posh boarding school through to adulthood. You sniff something suspicious on the outset of this film as there are no parents around and majority of the students come across as rather dum espcially Tommy but well come on to him later.
Half the film seems to be set in the boarding school but eventually the three friends grow up to be Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley. The story is engaging though very slow, this is one of those films like 'The Reader,' were you just wish there was a intermission period to go stretch you legs. Dramas are hard to sit through as its mostly talking for a long period of time. Thats not to say I don't like the genre its just a lot easier to sit through two hours of X-men than two hours of talking.
The story of course focuses on the three characters relationship with each other and this strange love triangle going on.
The biggest stand out feature of the story is the ending which is incredibly emotional, which is weird for me as I rarely get emotional in films, even those sad Disney scenes don't really hit me. This film did however, and the generally message is projected very well. And the scenes towards the end of the film just looked beautiful.
The soundtrack of the film here was a afterthought, there is no music here that you will remember after the film, its what you would expect from a drama, forgettable.
In terms of acting Carey Mulligan steals the show here at least in the last half of the film she does. No doubt from performances like this and 'An Education,' she has a great career ahead of her.
Keira Knightley was kind enough to appear in the film for a what seemed five minutes. Even though she is listed as one of the main actors. I feel sorry for Keira as she isn't having much luck with films recently, though Keira does try to win us back through the power of sex scenes, because we all know more men will go see this film with there girlfriends (or boyfriends) if there is a chance they can see Keira naked. My advice is if your that desperate go watch 'The Hole,' she gets her boobies out full and proud in that one.
As for the rest of the cast there are no particular memorable performances except for Tommy of course. Definately my favourite and most hated character in this film. Tommy reminds me of that person at school, uni and work who is less attractive than you, less intellient and generally lacks many personal skills yet has a better chance at getting laid than me. And this performance goes for both kiddie Tommy in boarding school and adult Tommy played by Andrew Garfield.
Overall like the song from Scott Pilgrim this film is sad so very sad, but I would still reccommend it the acting is great, and the general message of makeing every moment count is delivered very strongely in this film. Even for a drama this film is still worth a look even on the big cinema screen.
