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Recent releases:
- Mothers' Instinct
- Sweet East, The
- Ghost Busters: Frozen Empire
- Immaculate
- Roaring Twenties, The (reissue)
- Soul
- Dune: part two
- American Star
- Dune: Part 1 (reissue)
- Jerry & Marge Go Large
- Argylle
- Forever Young
- Jackdaw
- All of Us Strangers
- Holdovers, The
- Mean Girls
- Poor Things
- One Life
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- Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom
Never Let Me Go
Stars: Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Keira Knightley, Isobel Meikle-Small, Ella Purnell, Charlie Rowe, Charlotte Rampling, Sally Hawkins, Nathalie Richard, Andrea Riseborough, Domhnall Gleeson
Director: Mark Romanek
Of course Id like to claim Ive read Kazuo Ishiguros acclaimed novel, but sadly I havent. Which leaves me having to review Romaneks perfectly paced screen version and thats no bad thing since it boasts a compelling screenplay by Alex Garland, concentrated direction and a trio of fine leading performances from Mulligan, Garfield and Knightley.
We meet them as young adults after spending time with them as youngsters, at a seemingly perfect English boarding school. But there they learn their fates in the dystopian alternative world in which this extraordinary science fiction drama is set, people are raised to be organ donors for their betters. Which makes their adult relationships Mulligan and Garfield fall in love while Knightley, who gives perhaps her finest screen performance, is the unhappy emotional spanner in the works.
While the theme raises echoes of Logans Run, Never Let Me Go is a unique, poignant and ultimately deeply affecting science fiction drama whose power lies not in a different future realised with special effects but in the all-too-convincing relationships of characters who are trapped and face terrifying futures. Hawkins, as a concerned teacher, and Rampling, scary as a headmistress, are both excellent too.
Its essentially a downbeat story but it is so well done on every level (sad to consider that Garfield will most probably be more reliant on special effects than on consummate acting when he becomes the new Spider-Man) that it held me gripped from start to finish.
Alan Frank
USA/UK/France 2011. UK Distributor: 20th Century Fox (Fox Searchlight). Colour by deluxe.
103 minutes. Not widescreen. UK certificate: 12A.
Guidance ratings (out of 3): Sex/nudity 1, Violence/Horror 1, Drugs 0, Swearing 0.
Review date: 12 Feb 2011