Featured Audience Ratings

• John M

  
  Excellent acting takes you on a journey into a world that could easily be . . dark, haunting, and very heartbreaking story of coming to age knowing what will be at the end of the journey . .completion . .

• William D

  
  "Never Let Me Go" is only about 115 minutes long, but it seems to go on forever. I had to let it go. It was so unbearably languid that I had to shut the DVD off after 80 minutes. I can only bear so much languor and poor editing. Music-video director Mark Romanek… More
  "Never Let Me Go" is only about 115 minutes long, but it seems to go on forever. I had to let it go. It was so unbearably languid that I had to shut the DVD off after 80 minutes. I can only bear so much languor and poor editing. Music-video director Mark Romanek ("One-Hour Photo") keeps trying to break into feature films, but he's having trouble learning the art of film. He composes beautiful sequences, as you'd expect from a music-video man. What he's not learning is the skill of stringing together sequences to make a compelling film. This was his problem with "One-Hour Photo" (2002), and it's his problem with his follow-up film as well. "Never Let Me Go" had everything going for it: a superb, dark story (based on a Kazuo Ishiguro novel), excellent art direction and cinematography, and a stellar cast. But Romanek couldn't pull it together. Almost every scene is more languid than it needs to be. And, most irritating, each sequence is 30% longer than it should be. Everything is stretched out to the point where the viewer wants to slit his wrists in all the slack periods. After about an hour, I couldn't take it anymore. How sad, because this really should have been a major film. The central plot depicts a world (an alternative present) where England has created factory farms for humans. Clones are created and raised in remote, isolated boarding schools, until such time as their organs can be harvested for transplant. The main characters (played beautifully by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield) are clones trying to accept their fate and their short life expectancy. With a director who knew how to make feature films, "Never Let Me Go" might have been a major film. With Romanek's massive weaknesses as a filmmaker (particularly as an editor), it doesn't come together. Pity. This should have been great. Don't blame Ishiguro or any of the actors.

• Emil K

  
  Touching, heartbreaking but also oddly cold work from Mark Romanek who is better known from his masterful music videos. Romanek certainly knows how to make film look gorgeous, but i am not sure he completely accomplishes on delivering the emotional impact of the story. Somehow the… More
  Touching, heartbreaking but also oddly cold work from Mark Romanek who is better known from his masterful music videos. Romanek certainly knows how to make film look gorgeous, but i am not sure he completely accomplishes on delivering the emotional impact of the story. Somehow the whole film leaves viewer a bit outside from it's characters and we never really seem to get inside their mind. Sure, there are beautiful moments, even brilliant ones. There is this nostalgic feel through the whole film. Feel of a love that never happened, but it truly is such a shame that Romanek comes so close to achieving the whole strenght of the story, but still fails. Maybe he still has something to learn from filmmaking. He might be able to capture a good looking pictures, but he cannot make it blossom completely.

• paul o

  
  Beautiful, deep, and fantastic! Another great film from Mark Romanek whose directing skills show the bleak world from the perspective of the "donors". The emotions are consistently in a downward spiral and churns your stomach sometimes.

• paul s

  
  Sci-fi has always been good at taking a premise and running with it. In the case of Never Let Me Go, we are asked to believe in a certain event - and if we believe, then everything else that follows is also believable. As is often the case with Sci-fi as well, the premise allows for… More
  Sci-fi has always been good at taking a premise and running with it. In the case of Never Let Me Go, we are asked to believe in a certain event - and if we believe, then everything else that follows is also believable. As is often the case with Sci-fi as well, the premise allows for the examination of moral implications - which is the backbone of the film. Unfortunately, what is being presented here certainly isn't anything novel, and what really propels the film is a kind of off-beat love triangle - though I use the term propel lightly, as the film moves at a glacial pace - allowing the viewer to wallow in the dark tones and somber attitudes enough to make you want to slash your own wrists. I don't really want to reveal anything in case you haven't read the book this is based on, but suffice to say we are witness to a group of youngsters in a English boarding school situation that is, well... different. They come through the teen years and bonds are formed, although there is an ominous tone that pervades every scene. There is a certain payoff at the very end of the film that is quite poignant and well done, but you sure have to wait a long time for it; slogging through many a scene meant, I'm sure, to be revelatory in nature, but do not tell the viewer anything he hasn't figured out well before the scenes transpire. The big moral question here does have some possible future relevance, but again, I seen the subject matter handled much better in several novels and other, more mainstream Sci-fi flicks that came decades before this one. I'm sure director Mark Romanik was trying to say something profound, given the subject matter, but this is a quiet little film that I can't recommend as it travels well trodden ground, and its only real revelation is perhaps an unintentional one: that governments lie to us.

• Dean M

  
  It's an intriguing exploration of hope and humanity as I totally understood the whole story of this drama-sci-fi film. On film, Kazuo Ishiguro's agonising existential allegory - in which three friends (Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley) grow up in a quietly… More
  It's an intriguing exploration of hope and humanity as I totally understood the whole story of this drama-sci-fi film. On film, Kazuo Ishiguro's agonising existential allegory - in which three friends (Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley) grow up in a quietly horrifying alternative reality - becomes a melancholic masterclass in restraint, both profound and moving. Material this fragile could have broken in less sensitive hands than those of screenwriter Alex Garland and, particularly, director Mark Romanek. In another universe, <i>Never Let Me Go</i> may have won Oscars for its script, cinematography, music, direction and triumvirate of exquisite performances, from three of the premier actors of their generation. Difficult to imagine a more perfectly realised adaptation of a novel; fine literature translated into movie lyricism.

• Rubia Carolina .

  
  <br> Interesting argument, bad execution*. </br> What defines the soul? What distinguishes human beings from machines? Isn´t the emotional field, the capacity to have emotions? Can a <i>machine</i> be so perfect to the point it can develop any human… More
  <br> Interesting argument, bad execution*. </br> What defines the soul? What distinguishes human beings from machines? Isn´t the emotional field, the capacity to have emotions? Can a <i>machine</i> be so perfect to the point it can develop any human characteristic like envy, jealousy, hope, love? "We didn't have The Gallery in order to look into your souls. We had The Gallery to see if you had souls at all." For me this sentence is nothing but absurd. I can imagine a computer, a robot creating a piece of art, but I can´t imagine they dreaming or suffering. I am not really able to define my beliefs and I won´t get into this subject, but in my opinion, if a cloning succeeds it´s not only because of some bright people happened to know how to do it. If you know what I mean. Kathy, Tommy and Ruth are some of several <i>special</i> children who grow up in an austere English boarding school called Hailsham. The thing is that these children are all clones created by the government with the purpose to provide organ transplants to humans. It´s interesting to note that they´re mostly based off of what they call <i>trash</i>: prostitutes, criminals, etc. Why that? "If you ask people to return to darkness, the days of lung cancer, breast cancer, motor neurone disease, they'll simply say no." Wouldn´t we? Wouldn´t we say "oh, they´re not humans and they come from the worst type of people, people our society doesn´t need". So how much humans (in the meaning of "Christians") we are? And how different would we be from them? Human condition and contradictions, justifications, lies. There´s a particular dialogue that called my attention: - Ruth, why do you do that thing? Squeezing Tommy's shoulder. - I'm allowed to touch Tommy, aren't I? - It's the way you're touching him. You know what I mean. It's copied from that television show. - That's so not... - Don't tell me "that's so not true." All that behavior, that's not what people do out there, in real life, if that's what you were thinking. (...) You copy them, and they copy from a television show. Maybe you don´t think about these things, so you won´t get my point, but what I am asking is: wow original we are? Don´t we tend to live our life copying what we think is the <i>right</i> just as an escape from the only truth we know, our mortal condition? And, even knowing I´m going too far and that it´s not a question the film brings, this particular dialogue made me think of how most of us live just like them, how we see us as simple mortals with <i>determined</i> lives when <i>people out there</i> (in our case, usually famous people), are the only ones allowed to live fully. <br> *It´s unacceptable to think that any of them would rebel against their condition, against the system. Not even one of them would refuse to pass their bracelet in that indifferent gesture of workers punching in and punching out the time clock? ** There´s a quote in the film <i>Lisbon Story</i> that can work as a synopsis or the epilogue of <i>Never Let Me Go</i>: "The Iight of the burning candIe gave me the feeIing that I am nothing, I am a fiction. What do I expect from this worId? What do I expect from you and from myseIf? I could have prophetic powers, understand all mysteries and all knowledge, I could have faith that would move mountains, but if I didn't have love, I would be nothing." (Pessoa, December 1934) <br> <br>

• Cynthia S

  
  Really good, but unbelievably depressing and rather slow. I kept hoping for a happy ending...but alas there was none. I kept asking myself one question, however. Why can't they just run away? hmmmmm...

• Carlos M

  
  A very melancholic and depressing film adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro's dystopian sci-fi novel. A poignant, achingly sad story that moves carefully and with intense performances, avoiding any easy preaching and providing a delicate meditation on time and the transience of life.

• Idrees K

  
  Depressing and thought-provoking.

• Lanning :

  
  Argh! And to think this was my last DVD from Netflix. Surely wish I'd picked something less ridiculous. Never let me watch this again.

• Drew S

  
  All right, so it basically jams the "swoon" button until it breaks, with the sentimental soundtrack and all those dreamy diffuse browns and yellows and greens. I'm self-aware enough to know that this approach works on me. A dash of existential philosophy conflated with… More
  All right, so it basically jams the "swoon" button until it breaks, with the sentimental soundtrack and all those dreamy diffuse browns and yellows and greens. I'm self-aware enough to know that this approach works on me. A dash of existential philosophy conflated with dark, troubled romance isn't a guaranteed success in the Drew Book, but it's the closest to a guaranteed success you can get. Handsomely shot, beautifully acted (with one of Knightley's best performances and the first punch in Andrew Garfield's burst into stardom) and striking a respectable balance between restraint and dramatic propulsion, Never Let Me Go is a work of considerable merit. Which is not to say, of course, that it's without flaws. That aforementioned soundtrack, which sounds great, is nonetheless something of a sledgehammer, feeling like a post-production apology for the way the story is told. Its dramatic strings are at odds with the unhistrionic dialogues on existence, hope and futility. Indeed, the critical sector's greatest problem with the film is its "coldness." Many people feel emotionally unaffected by it, but I think its distance is both a trapping of the story being told and a considerable asset to it. Their circumstances are totally alien to viewers who have at least some degree of autonomy - which is to say, nearly all of them. Ruth, Tommy and Kathy's attempts at finding romance aren't necessarily the sad part of the film, but the fact that they're struggling against all the feelings they've been brought up to feel just to salvage some degree of happiness is crushing. Never Let Me Go's attitude is that of terminal pessimism, even when the characters are trying to convince themselves otherwise. This isn't a Notebook-style tearjerker, but a creeping piece on resignation and defeat, and at least among its contemporaries that makes it unique.

• Tim S

  
  A well crafted, well acted film. Be forewarned, this is depression inducing cinema at it's best. The entire cast is amazing (very impressed with Knightley) down to the child versions of the three leads (these people deserve an Oscar for casting). If you give too much away about… More
  A well crafted, well acted film. Be forewarned, this is depression inducing cinema at it's best. The entire cast is amazing (very impressed with Knightley) down to the child versions of the three leads (these people deserve an Oscar for casting). If you give too much away about the film, you lose a little something, so I don't want to say too much. Try watching it on a happy day to even out all the crying you will do during the movie or maybe you feel like crying, then this is right up your alley. Romanek does a great job setting the tone early and steering it over some scenes that could have become corny quick. I liked it, but, again, not for a casual let's pop in a movie mood.

• Jennifer X

  
  This movie was actually better than the book, which is not very difficult considering that the book is HORRIBLE. With that being said, that still doesn't make it a good movie, and in fact, had the set design not been so stunning and the clothing (my god, the sweaters, the… More
  This movie was actually better than the book, which is not very difficult considering that the book is HORRIBLE. With that being said, that still doesn't make it a good movie, and in fact, had the set design not been so stunning and the clothing (my god, the sweaters, the SWEATERS!) not so lovely, I probably would have given it a lower rating.

• ♥˩ƳИИ &

  
  Cast: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Isobel Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, Ella Purnell, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Kate Bowes Renna Director: Mark Romanek Summary: Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's acclaimed novel, this sci-fi drama from director Mark… More
  Cast: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Isobel Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe, Ella Purnell, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Kate Bowes Renna Director: Mark Romanek Summary: Based on Kazuo Ishiguro's acclaimed novel, this sci-fi drama from director Mark Romanek is centered on thirtysomething Kathy (Carey Mulligan), who reflects on her time spent at Hailsham, an English boarding school, alongside classmates Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield). Born for an unusual reason, the three struggle with their destiny and their love triangle. My Thoughts: "An emotional, poetic, romantic, yet depressing film. At a young age the children from Hailsham, find out from Miss Lucy what will become of them, and their reason for existing. Their acceptance of it all is disturbing. In the end you root for Tommy and Kathy even knowing what the outcome will be. I kept thinking, 'RUN AWAY'! But of course they do not act selfishly as you would want them to which makes it even more sad. The scene where Tommy is outside the car in one of his raging fits, that's where the true heart-break is cause it makes it so final. The story is haunting and heart-breaking. I definitely shedded a few or more tears throughout the film. The performances is what makes this film so great. I was really impressed by Carey Mulligan, she was terrific. Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield put in fantastic performances as well. A definite must see."

• c0up  

  
  'Never Let Me Go'. A tale of three friends through the ages, set amidst an alternate reality England, and the disturbing, but believable backdrop of the National Donation Program. The ending especially, raising its questions of death, our time on this earth, and what we… More
  'Never Let Me Go'. A tale of three friends through the ages, set amidst an alternate reality England, and the disturbing, but believable backdrop of the National Donation Program. The ending especially, raising its questions of death, our time on this earth, and what we feel we've achieved in it, struck a chord with me. "What I'm not sure about is if our lives have been so different from the lives of the people we've saved. We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time." And last, but certainly not least, Carey Mulligan delivered a stunning performance, so brilliantly conveying the love and loss experienced through the film.

• Jon J

  
  Some alternate reality films give rise to the question: "Could this happen in real life?" At first, one might scoff and say that the world we live in would not sink to such degradable levels, that the moral highground is ever present and maintained; then you get a gnawing… More
  Some alternate reality films give rise to the question: "Could this happen in real life?" At first, one might scoff and say that the world we live in would not sink to such degradable levels, that the moral highground is ever present and maintained; then you get a gnawing feeling of doubt. There are daily examples of human injustice and avarice, so the alternate reality that the viewer is presented with starts to become exactly that: an alternate *reality*. Never Let Me Go is in that sense actually quite terrifying, but it also reminds you of the beauty of the human nature, its imperfections and its greatest strengths. Based on the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro, Never Let Me Go tells of the experience of a young woman, Kathy (Mulligan) who is inextricably bound to a sordid fate. She is a future donor, someone who will have to donate her organs to extend the lifespan of another human being. The film focuses mostly on her upbringing and experiences, mainly with her friends Tommy (Garfield) and Ruth (Knightley). It's predictably tragic, since there's very little in terms of actual hope in any facet of the film. That does, however, amplify the great injustice imposed upon the trio and how it affects you as a viewer. The outside world is shown as alien, distant yet reliant upon what the donors give them. Their greed and need for self-preservation seems more malevolent and criminal than most other traditional film villain simply because of how ordinary it's made out to be. It's a possible simile to events where a certain group of people is singled out as "creatures", not deserving any of the base human rights that are so ingrained in cultured societies. One needs not look further than in the second world war to see examples of such atrocities, so again the possibility doesn't seem so far off that humanity would stoop so low out of their own selfish needs. As with any film of this nature, that is a prime achievement, making you think "what if" instead of just telling a story. The cast do a good job of delivering the prevalent pain of their lamentable fate, and the screenplay is handled brilliantly. The main three characters are of course highlights, though it sometimes feels like they don't reach their full acting potential in the film. The film's atmosphere is of tranquility and a "calm before the storm" feeling, but the characters are if anything almost constantly stoic. It's not in any way debilitating but one is left to wonder what could have been done with a slightly different approach. In the same way, the drama of some of the plot's key scenes feels oddly subdued, like more could have been done to really hit the point home. Maybe that subtlety is intentional, and at times it does manage to make situations more dramatic, but it often feels like a limiting factor. As has been said, the subtlety is not a hindrance for the storytelling, which is in every way brilliant. It may prove to be too dramatic at times, since it really is a sad film. However, it's also incredibly thought-provoking and worth a watch by anyone intrigued with the inner workings of society. Maybe what really makes Never Let Me Go a great film is how you start questioning yourself at the end. If you were born in this world, would you protest or would you go along with it. The answer to that question is not as simple as one would initially think... and that's scary.

• Mark W

  
  Novelist Alex Garland (The Beach) seems to have become something of a science-fiction screenwriter these days, with "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine" already done and the forthcoming "Dredd" and "Halo" in the making. However, this adaptation of… More
  Novelist Alex Garland (The Beach) seems to have become something of a science-fiction screenwriter these days, with "28 Days Later" and "Sunshine" already done and the forthcoming "Dredd" and "Halo" in the making. However, this adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's book is his most subtle sci-fi yet, and his most effective. Kathy H. (Carey Mulligan) is a woman looking back on her life, from her childhood days at Hailsham boarding school with best friends Ruth (Keira Knightley) and Tommy (Andrew Garfield). Like all the other Hailsham pupils, the three have a very particular destiny - one which, together, they slowly grow to understand, and struggle to accept. Science-fiction doesn't come much bleaker when it addresses the nature of existence or the purpose in our lives. Especially when that purpose is to serve another, wholeheartedly, and to ones detriment. This excellently crafted drama brings reminders of George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "A Brave New World" in it's depressingly bleak and hopeless, alternate time in history. It has an interesting and thought provoking premise and what makes good science fiction tick is it's believability. This is a very plausible story in our modern age of genetic modification and it's under-played to perfection. Director Mark Romanek focuses on the human/inhumane element of the story and any indication of an alternate time is subtly done. Helped no end with some gorgeous cinematography by Adam Kimmel and excellent performances from the three leads and their younger counterparts - who bear and uncanny resemblance to the older actors. A cerebral and melancholy film that's beautifully executed in the struggle of it's characters' misfortunes and inevitable fate. Touching and heartbreakingly bleak.

• Robert C

  
  As I watched it, I went back and forth with how I was feeling about this film. It starts out as a sort of period piece about the children of (for all intents and purposes) a British boarding school in the 1970's, but slowly develops into somethng quite different. It really… More
  As I watched it, I went back and forth with how I was feeling about this film. It starts out as a sort of period piece about the children of (for all intents and purposes) a British boarding school in the 1970's, but slowly develops into somethng quite different. It really is hard to categorize the film as ultimately it has hints of several different genres. It is one of those rare films where, when it ended...I had to sit there for a few minutes and just let it all sink in. And the more that I thought / think about it...the more I like it. It is a slow paced, but very well acted and thoughful film. So sit back and commit to going along for the ride. I found it to be a very powerful journey.

• Dan S

  
  An extraordinarily depressing film centering in on the ever popular question of "what is life?" and what it means to have a soul, as three friends (Carrie Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightly) find to learn that they are sheep waiting to be slaughtered (in this case,… More
  An extraordinarily depressing film centering in on the ever popular question of "what is life?" and what it means to have a soul, as three friends (Carrie Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightly) find to learn that they are sheep waiting to be slaughtered (in this case, the government has the rights to their organs) in order to increase the overall lifespan of humanity. Although emotionally distant and occasionally suffering from a plodding pace, the film has three phenomenal young actors at the top of their game (especially Mulligan - who will become an all-time great at the rate she is going), as well as a somber, yet appropriate final twenty minutes. There is little happiness to be had here, but this is unquestionably an intellectually stimulating movie, and one worth a view, even if in the end I wish I had felt a little more connected to the characters.

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