"We all complete. Maybe none of us really understand what we've lived through, or feel we've had enough time"
I'll be the first to admit that this movie doesn't seem like my usual fare, I sold it to my wife as something for the both of us. Part chick flick with a sci-fi twist that would appeal to me. Turns out I over sold her part and undersold mine. It all worked out in the end though, this is an insanely well made, hauntingly beautiful movie that's probably best watched with your significant other to save your geek cred.
The basic premise is that in the 1950's a medical breakthrough was made that allowed the life expectancy of humans to surpass 100 years, that breakthrough was cloning. The movie follows the story of narrator Kathy (Carey Mulligan), as the movie begins she explains she has been a 'carer' for 8 years now as she looks through glass at a man on an operating table. She goes on to tell the story of Tommy (Andrew Garfield), Ruth (Kiera Knightley) and herself. The story begins with the three of them as kids at Halsham House a seemingly idyllic boarding school that has . Kathy falls in love with Tommy but before she can let him know he enters into a relationship with Ruth. When they turn 18 they leave Halsham to live at the cottages, a collection of secluded farm houses where the clones from various schools around the country live while they wait to give their first donations. It's at the cottages where they first hear about the possibility of having the first donation deferred for couples who can prove they are in love and also where the relationship between the three deteriorates to the point where Kathy decides to leave to become a carer.
While she is with one of her donors at the hospital she notices that Ruth is there and goes to visit her, this leads to a reunion between the three friends with Kathy being the only one who is yet
to make a donation. Ruth apologizes to them and asks for forgiveness for keeping them apart, in an effort to make up for it she found out the name of the person who you are supposed to go to to request a deferral and advises them to seek one so they can finally be together. This proves to be Ruth's final act as she completes soon after. Kathy and Tommy go in search of a deferral only to find out there is no such thing and the patient Kathy is looking at through the glass at the beginning of the movie is Tommy.
Director Mark Romanek's adaptation of the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro works amazingly well on the big screen. His often haunting imagery combined with the unique, almost bleak, color palette used in the movie combine to really portray the emotional disconnect captured by the book. The sad, cold feeling portrayed by the lack of primary colors in his palette plays beautifully with the bleak lives the characters are forced to lead and allow us to identify with them regardless. The actors also put in sublime performances capturing the naivety you would expect from people raised to never experience the world as we know it.
Directed by: Mark Romanek
Written by: Kazuo Ishiguro (book) and Alex Garland (screen play)
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield.
Distributed by: Fox Searchlight Pictures
Website: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/neverletmego
No comments:
Post a Comment