NEVER LET ME GO

Gentle Readers,

When I started watching Never Let Me Go, I thought, Ugh, this is some weird, eerie, creepy science fiction thing. But that feeling only lasted a few minutes and then I was drawn into the film and found it absolutely fascinating.

As the movie begins, we learn that life expectancy has reached more than 100 years. Before long, we know why. Kathy (Carey Mulligan), Ruth (Keira Knightley), and Tommy (Andrew Garfield), grow up at Hailsham, a "school" for children who are actually clones, raised to young adulthood to donate -- be robbed of --  their vital organs to keep real people alive. The children don't try to run away, even when a teacher reveals why they are there (she's fired by the next day). They've been brainwashed into believing that if they go beyond the fence of Hailsham, something horrid will happen to them, i.e. You go out and you can't come back in and you stand just outside the gate and starve to death or somebody catches you and ties you to a tree and cuts off your hands and feet or whatever.

When they leave Hailsham, they go to The Cottages for a while, where Ruth and Tommy begin a sexual relationship. However, Kathy and Ruth used to be best friends and Kathy is also in love with Tommy. Their strange relationships and their fates propel the movie until, eventually, all three become donors. Of course, after two or three or even one donation, the donors "complete." You can figure it out.

This movie isn't creepy at all, if you can get past the creepiness of the whole idea. The score is beautiful and although Keira Knightly and Andrew Garfield are fine, it's Carey Mulligan who glows. Did you see her in An Education? What a fine young actress.

Never Let Me Go makes me want to read the book on which it's based, Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.

This movie is worth one hour and 43 minutes out of your busy schedule.

Infinites of love,

Lola