Never Let Me Go

Sad Professor

Trailer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kymQcM4ej3w

I could only find one thread for this film and it was spam. If anyone knows of another on here let me know so I can merge this.

Anyway I see this film getting a fair bit of flak on the recently watched thread. It's undeserved imo. I thought it was excellent. Great performances from all the actors, especially Mulligan. Although I thought Knightly was short-changed by the script. I never really empathised with the guilt her character endures later on. They jumped over too much time. But having said that, I did enjoy the distinctive 3 act structure, reminded me of Kubrick.

I haven't read the book, but the film seemed incomplete, as if there was a bigger story but they decided (perhaps mercifully) to focus on only one part of it, or maybe loads of stuff ended up on the cutting room floor. In any case, I thought the third act was the best and the most thought provoking.

A lot of the criticisms seem to revolve around perceived plot-holes, such as why didn't they run, why didn't they do this, etc. This is one of the interesting questions that the film left me with, although I thought the reason for this was made clear during the first 30 minutes. They were brought up for this one purpose and had ideas planted in their minds during school to discourage running away.

The ending isn't what one expects from a film and is probably why so many people reject it. But it rang true to me in away that many movie endings don't.

What did everyone else think?

Amirani

I went to see this having heard nothing and not really sure what to expect. Happy I did go see it because it was pretty good. Poses some interesting moral dilemmas and invokes natural empathy towards the characters. Reminds me of Moon and A.I. so if you liked them then this is worth going to see.

I'd agree that the acting performances were pretty good but for me Andrew Garfield was the standout. I think his role in Social Network is getting a bit under appreciated and I have a feeling this will too.

Overall a pretty good watch. 4/5.

johnny_ultimate

Watched it on a plane a few months ago, which let's be honest isn't the ideal situation for film watching! But was far from bowled over in any case. I liked the twists to the usual formula, but don't think they went far enough in distancing itself from the usual British prestige picture. Dully directed for the most part

(although some things - like Knightley's or Garfield's 'completion' scenes - were handled well)

and found the story almost too predictable, even with the twists. None of the performances were particularly impressive IMO, all a bit too cold and too many frowns! Mostly, it just came across as a slightly more unusual British 'prestige' film, and didn't differentiate itself from the pack as effectively as, say, Atonement.

Not a bad film, but one that felt too cold or removed to really engage with the characters. Perhaps by design, but not a particularly endearing design IMO.

Basq

Thought the performances were all superb - especially Garfield - but was left wholly unimpressed by the whole thing.

phasers

I was left completely cold by this. I've been meaning to pick up the book out of curiosity, I feel like that could be very good because it would fill in a lot of ridiculous blanks.

One small thing that was really bothering me though -

The couple in the cottages were Irish. Weren't all the children cloned in boarding schools? How come they had Irish accents?

delbertgrady

I love the book, and I thought the film was a valiant effort, though not quite as good as it could have been. I subsequently read that the clunky voiceover was added, Blade Runner style, after American test audiences were bewildered.
Without being churlish, there are some things they left out that should not have been,

not least Madame watching Kathy dance, and Kathy losing her precious Judy Bridgewater tape

. I've no issue with books having things chopped out when they're adapted for the screen, but they were crucial things that needed to stay in and didn't.
I think the reason it's getting such middling reviews is that on paper, it should have been a total triumph, almost like the next Atonement - hot young cast in adaptation of acclaimed novel, Oscar nominations surely beckon - but it's just not quite there.

It's also incredibly downbeat for what's being marketed as a multiplex movie, as well as an arthouse film. You're basically spending a hundred minutes in the company of three people who are going to die, and I'm sure people unfamiliar with the novel were lulled into a false sense of how the narrative would pan out by the "love conquers all" element of the trailer

.

emeraldstar

phasers wrote: »

I was left completely cold by this. I've been meaning to pick up the book out of curiosity, I feel like that could be very good because it would fill in a lot of ridiculous blanks.

One small thing that was really bothering me though -

The couple in the cottages were Irish. Weren't all the children cloned in boarding schools? How come they had Irish accents?

I read the book and thought it was even worse than the movie - and not all that more enlightening. I had no feelings for any of the characters; if anything the book was colder.

I was wondering that about the

Irish characters

too. It didn't make sense! No one else I mentioned it to seemed to have noticed though...

BabyBirch

emeraldstar wrote: »

I was wondering that about the

Irish characters

too. It didn't make sense! No one else I mentioned it to seemed to have noticed though...

Yeah when they said

that the students had come to the Cottages from all over the place, including schools they'd never heard of, I assumed the Irish characters had come over from an Irish school.

bnt

Finally got to see this last night. The recreations of the periods (70s & 80s) were spooky, helped by the washed-out colours: it was a grey world for everyone involved.

If you go and see this, one major theme running through the whole thing (not a spoiler) is how everyone's lives are ruled by rumours and stories that they "just heard". No-one can say where the stories originated, never mind whether they are true or not. So the actual truth is never quite fully believed, even when it's right in front of them. Near the end, a seemingly crucial question is asked - and never properly answered - but we could debate whether that was really an important question to ask at all.

The thing about

one couple in the Cottages having Irish accents: well, it is set in an alternate world, one in which it's possible that they came from a NDP school e.g. Londonderry and moved to England later. Hailsham wasn't the only school, just the "special" one.

.

gustavo

Really enjoyed this - loved the atmosphere that was created.

Three brilliant central performances but I can see why people might be left cold by it.

brendansmith

Went to see this last night and really have nothing bad to say about it. Very interesting and I dare say ill be thinking about it for quite a while to come.

Who cares if two of the characters had Irish accents.