Never Let Me Go

So I hadn't heard of this movie when it came out last year but I'd been seeing the trailer on the movies I've been renting lately and it looked super interesting plus I usually always like Keira Knightley's movies. The movie opened last year and brought in about $5 million from it's limited release not quite reaching it's $15 million budget.

The movie is set in an alternate history back in the 1970's when a medical breakthrough occurred and people began living regularly past their 100's. Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield play three orphans who grow up together in an English boarding school and soon learn they play a bigger part in the newly increased life expectancy.

The movie was apparently based on a book and it really did have a great premise working here. There was a lot of potential for this story and the symbolism was beautiful. The plot was a little slow in parts and didn't spend enough time on the characters in my opinion. That being said, this is a sad beautiful story underneath and at moments it shone through. The characters were well written however I don't think enough time was spent on each of their relationships with each other.

The lighting and color of the film was absolutely beautiful. The costumes and set design were also very well done and very pretty. The long sweeping camera angles in soft focus along the English coast and countryside were especially nice.

The three actors did very well and gave great depth to their characters, they were each unique with their own dynamics and did a great job, again I just don't think enough time was spent with their relationships. Knightley does a great job and especially at the end she physically became her character. Carey Mulligan did a nice job right in line with her recent work. Andrew Garfield gave a lot more depth and emotion than he was able to in The Social Network.

Overall, it was a nicely made movie. It seemed that the movie was about the relationships at it's core, but you were fooled into thinking it was about the plot action - much like how life is? More symbolism? Perhaps, but also it seems as if you're being lead down a plot with lots of action in the beginning. It's like a character study of the movie, The Island. This was a nice movie and it had tons of potential and pulled it off to a certain degree. It was definitely not what I was expecting going into this movie. "It never occurred to me that our lives could unravel with such speed. If I'd known, maybe I'd have kept a tighter hold on them".