Never Let Me Go

A film that is basically a story about lost love amongst three friends but delves into science fiction also. The first part of the film is set in the 80's where Kathy, Tommy, and Ruth are three friends growing up at a private boarding school called Hailsham. Kathy and Ruth are best of friends who do everything together. The two are watching a baseball like game where the pitcher throws what looks like a softball sized ball to the "batter" who has what looks like a tennis racket to hit the ball with. The ball is hit and Tommy has a chance to catch the ball. It sails over his head and over the fence past the boundary of the school. Tommy looks at the fence and decides to not go after the ball. In class the teacher Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) who is new at the school asks the students why didn't Tommy get the ball. They tell her because no one's allowed past the boundary of the school. One boy ran off and they found him later with his hands and feet cut off. Miss Lucy asks who told you these things and how do you know they're true. The children answer "everybody knows the story". Miss Lucy then reveals to the class what they are really here for. I was going to reveal what Miss Lucy said to the class but thought otherwise because it is quite powerful in the film and it takes the movie to a much different place where I thought it was going. Here is a movie that the least amount you know the better and more powerful so I advise you not to look at the synopsis on the back of the dvd case or read any reviews that reveal too much and just put the dvd in and push play. On the next day the students are told that Miss Lucy has been relieved of her duties and other teachers will take turns to teach her class. After a few more minutes we jump to years later and we see Ruth (Keira Knightley), Tommy (Andrew Garfield), and Kathy (Carey Mulligan) as twenty somethings. They now live together at a different location and are soon going to drift apart due to decisions made by all three parties involved. This film has great performances from the three leads but the one that was really great was Andrew Garfield's. In one scene we see Tommy saying to Kathy that he's got to get out of the car, he just needs to breath, we the viewer have just seen an important plot point between the two, so when Tommy gets out of the car he walks a little ahead on the road and just starts yelling at the top of his lungs, with rage and sadness, while Kathy rushes to Tommy and they embrace. A great scene considering what is going on within the film. I would also have to say that the musical score is one of the best I have heard in ages. It is mainly an overriding theme that you hear and later you hear again. It is mainly the cello which is a great instrument for conveying love, sadness, and loss. And this movie has all these three things. It's tough to watch sometimes because of the children's fate but stick with it because it's worth it. Carey Mulligan shows here that her turn in An Education was no fluke while Keira Knightley was fine in her own right as well. Highly recommended.