'Never Let Me Go'

'Never Let Me Go' (R) (3 stars)

Writer: Alex Garland based on novel written by Zuo Ishiguro
Director: Mark Romanek
Starring: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield, Sally Hawkins, Charlotte Rampling

Screen adaptations can be an extremely difficult task to accomplish. It frustrates people when they read a fantastic book and they find out Hollywood is going to make a movie out of it. It usually fails with the exception of adaptations like "The Godfather", "The World According to Garp" and "The Wanderers" which turn out to be better than the book. I have heard that Zuo Ishiguro's novel "Never Let Me Go" is a beautiful novel and it is hard to think of anyone adapting it. I did not read the novel but I can tell by the film adaptation that is had to be quite a chore to adapt. This is a slow moving, somber, bleak and somehow poetic movie. People will either love it or hate it and I am curious what the book readers will think about it. This is a science fiction movie with a little upper crust British drama thrown in. I can gather that the story is more beautiful and poetic if you read it on the page. It is a beautiful movie to look at but sometimes you can get frustrated. The movie tells the story of three children Kathy, Ruth and Tommy who grow up in a boarding school ruled with an iron fist by Charlotte Rampling. Kathy falls in love with Tommy at a young age and Tommy is a very sensitive kid. He sees Kathy as more of a friend and grows closer to Ruth. The first half hour shows the three children as they find out the hard truth about what their boarding school is for. I will not give away the big secret because I didn't know about it either going in. One of the teachers, played by Sally Hawkins, tells the kids what they are being reared for as they become adults. What's just say that after she tells them she might as well as told them there was no God or Heaven either.

We then move on to see the three main characters grown up and they are played by Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield. All three do an amazing job with somber, difficult material. Keira Knightley is solid at playing someone who thinks Tommy loves her but knows deep inside he really loves Kathy. Andrew Garfield builds on his amazing work in "The Social Network" with a different but equally sensitive performance. Compare this to his work in "The Social Network" and you can tell he will become a great actor. He will next be seen as Spiderman in that franchise's reboot. To me though the movie really belongs to Carey Mulligan. I have praised this woman to death and I still think she should have won Best Actress last year. She bounces back from the thankless role in the weak Wall Street sequel. To me all the best actors can convey more of a connection with their eyes and facial expressions than with words. Look at how Mulligan uses her whole face to convey pain, loss and pure love and wonderment with one glance or look. Director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) does a very good job at capturing the look of desperation and sorrow. I have not read the book but I thought this was a potent love story with great acting. It has a very bleak ending that will turn off some but I like bleak sometimes. It probably could have been much greater and I am sure the book is better but to me something has been done right.