Never Let Me Go (Mark Romanek, 2010): UK

Reviewed by Charles Doan. Viewed at the Plaza de Oro Theatre in Santa Barbara.

Embedded in a parallel universe, surrounded by bucolic England, Mark Romanek’s 2010 film of a poignant romance in the midst of a biological revolution is quietly nostalgic and hypnotically nuanced. Never Let Me Go is brave in its perplexity of storytelling, emotionally gripping, and perhaps socially enlightening. Closely adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name, screenwriter Alex Garland’s interpretation of teenage desires and whimsical curiosity carefully examines the bleak, gritty reality that is masked by the demands of society, forcing unethical and inhumane methods of meeting those demands. With a talented cast including Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, and Andrew Garfield, performances are of the highest standard. Before I continue, I must announce my position of this impeccable film, that this film itself is its own secret, and that once the secret is exposed to the viewer it will never cease to haunt the viewer’s internal space. Never Let Me Go is a brittle film that should not be thoroughly discussed, but should nonetheless be attentively experienced.

Never Let Me Go tells a story of three orphans who are exposed to the difficulties of innocence and identity, relationships and love as they maneuver through their childhood years at Hailsham; a boarding school nested in the spacious meadows of England. Physically and emotionally removed from society, Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth share with the other students of Hailsham a skewed view of the world in which their health is of the utmost priority and the fenced-off surroundings rival their expectations of their stark, disturbing reality.

The crepuscular haze emitting through the film provides us with a Malick-esque beauty. Cinematographer Adam Kimmel allows us to see the variances of emotions upon the faces of our protagonists by carefully defining features that can tell a story without the necessity of being blatant, he orchestrates the scenes with magnificent close-ups, so reminiscent of the macro-bleakness in Gus Van Sant’s Elephant (2003) and so similar to the conservative scope of Michael Haneke’s The White Ribbon (2009) that it reads as personal to the audience. Romanek’s modestly forbearing directing paints life on the canvas, delicately shaping the nuances of each scene. As a well-known music video and commercial director, Mark Romanek composes Never Let Me Go in a way that relies heavily on the sound as well as the haunting silence that occupies the space.

If the word ‘complete’ is synonymous to ‘passing away’ in a film, you know you’ve got a heavy-handed sociopolitical statement. And this is just what Never Let Me Go is. The running ideology in this film poses a contemporary existentialistic analysis that asks us, what makes us human? Is it the history of our existence or the future of our existence? Besides the overt darkness of the film, it does hold as entertaining. Kathy H., played by Carey Mulligan, is a complex character whose internal monologue translates externally as she spends most of her time “not looking forwards, but looking back.” The complexity of the interpersonal relationship between Kathy, Ruth, and Tommy is dynamic as much as it is realistic. We are presented with impressions of their love for one another in pieces that are intercorrelated and this resonates well with a patient, open-minded audience.

Never Let Me Go reminds us that we are human, that we share a similar life, and that life is precious. It also impresses upon us the paramount importance of the time we have to live, “We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we’ve lived through, or feel we’ve had enough time.”