Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go is one movie that makes you want to read more.  It’s science fiction but set in 1978 U.K.   It follows the lives of two teenage girls and a boy whose surnames we don’t know (it’s just Kathy H. for the Carey Mulligan character, Tommy D. for Andrew Garfield) who attend a boarding school/orphanage run by a stern headmaster.  The school values the arts more than sports, yet it’s not an arts school.  The kids are so protected that lies are made up to keep them from venturing outside the school grounds.  It’s a very strange school.

I wish I could give you the entire synopsis but I’m keeping this spoiler-free.  The film touches on the ethics of science, or how oppressive it could get, the banality of evil, humanity, mortality, love and what it means to have a soul.

Wish the movie were more soulful, though.   I found it to be quite dull.  Maybe I’m just  used to seeing some excitement or some rebellion when a sci-fi film turns back the clock.  

Never been so intrigued by a story such as this.  Must read Kazuo Ishiguro’s book.  By the way, if you need to catch up on your reading from the last century, you MUST read Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day.