It's a poster (honest)
So without further prevarication, here's my review of the 2010 film 'Never Let Me Go', starring Keira Knightly (both 'k's are pronounced of course), Carey Mulligan, and soon-to-be friendly-neighborhood (sic) Andrew Garfield.
Mostly this is a review of reviews - namely the IMDB ones, simply because a lot of them have clearly missed the point. This is an amazing film; beautifully and skilfully acted, well-written, and superbly photographed. The cast (both young, and slightly older) are universally excellent, fitting their performances into a stilted, slightly other-wordly framework, without ever falling into sentimental schmaltz.
For those of you who don't know Ishiguro's story, this is a film set in 'another England' one where human transplants have become the order of the day; a means to the end of elongating human life beyond it's current boundaries, with a devious, amoral scheme to ensure there are always organs available to harvest. The majority of criticism I have read centres around the central premise, and subsequent action (or inaction) of the main protagonists - "why didn't they run?" "couldn't they have escaped?" and so on. But to concentrate solely on this aspect of the film completely misses what the story is about. To draw a parallel, consider Speilberg's remake of 'War of the Worlds'. Those familiar with the original story and film know this is a fight between humanity and an invading alien force. Speilberg could simply have re-worked that theme into his film, but rather than do that, he took it as read that these events, the action, was unfolding as we all expected it to, and he chose instead to focus on the perspective as seen from an ordinary family. So rather than the epic battles between terrestrial and extraterrestrial forces, these are only hinted at, shown off-screen, their consequences felt but not observed. Instead we see the impact these moments have through the lens of a family unit; shattered then re-formed. We see the little person in the big picture. It becomes real and personal for us. The same story, from a different angle. A proper 're-imagining'.
Similarly 'Never Let Me Go' could have been a different film. There could have been scientific breakthroughs shown; a sea change in attitudes towards organ transplants and donors. Perhaps early experiments in embryo growth or cloning; scenes of failures. An admittance that a 'real' upbringing was required in order to succeed. Shots of moral protestations; marches, a political and ethical battle. The eventual creation of 'farm units'; creation of a control and monitoring mechanism, and so on and so on. We could have had that movie instead. The story of the mechanics of how the situation arose. But we didn't. Instead, just like Speilberg had done, we got the story from the personal perspective of a number of individuals caught up within the events. So, we didn't get to see all of the aspects that were there. Questions were left unanswered (why did they want to meet their originals? why didn't they run? what were the bracelets?) but the point is, that wasn't the story to tell. That would have simply been another interesting future / "what if?" scenario played out for the plot, rather than a story about humanity, life, and the precious moments and opportunities it presents.
Carey Mulligan ... rising star of cinema
So, to those asking for the why, the what, the how - that's not what this film was about. It's a personal exploration, an empassioned cry, an imperative tale about the singularity of existence, and about making the correct decisions in life when that life has a limited life-span. At its essence it was about human life. Ishiguro's point is that we are the donors, not the 'people' in the film. We are the ones with a limited life that can end suddenly, and will probably seem to have no ultimate purpose. Yet even with those confines in place, we can still choose how to live and how to make the best use of that time. And whether that's 20, 30, or 90 years that theme still applies.
It's a brilliant film. One of the finest I've seen in the last decade. Stellar cast - Mulligan is a great of cinema in the making, and any film with Andrea Riseborough in can't be that bad.
Possibly a poor film review, but not a review of a poor film. And, hey, it's my blog.
