Never Let Me Go (2010)

Never Let Me Go

I made a lot of fuzz about Carey Mulligan when I reviewed An Education back in the days, and I'm about to do the same once again. In fact, I'm about to predict a future Oscar winning female for the second time in my life. First time around was Ellen Page. Mulligan got her self nominated for best lead for An Education, at SAG, Golden Globe and Oscar as well as won both BAFTA and British Independent Film Award. The latter she's copied with her role here, and I imagine she'll get some more nominations as the season arrive. It's not winner material for the big ones, but the qualities she show again are stunningly remarkable.

With Carey out of the way, it time to dwell a little more on the problems with this movie. Firstly it's really not very original. The premise is ancient, or at least that's how it feels by now. On different levels, it's been one of the major themes in fiction for quite a while. It doesn't bring much new to the table either, and it overlooks important questions and considerations we really should follow the main characters through. This results in a distance director Romanek shouldn't have allowed. On the other hand he does well painting a feel throughout the movie, so along with some great and some first rate acting there's enough going for it to be well worth checking out.

I haven't read Kazuo Ishiguro's novel which its based on, but I imagine it does a better job following through on several important aspects. Anyway. Romanek's pacing isn't the best either, so once again I find my self stunned by a Mulligan performance without really being served a movie that deserves such talent. Unlike An Education, I doubt a second viewing will help elevate it, but I wouldn't be surprised if I watch this again one day just to study Mulligan.