Never Let Me Go

A love triangle forms at an English boarding school for organ-donor clones. Poignancy ensues. Alex Garland has gingerly adapted Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel for director Mark Romanek, who leaves the thing seeming a tad stifled by its own pretty dignity. The leads—Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield (occasionally channeling a young Anthony Perkins)—show good command of their lofty sci-fi source material, with Romanek carefully modulating costumes and hairstyles to indicate the passage of time. Charlotte Rampling and Sally Hawkins appear in brief but memorable roles. Yes, it has great credentials. Still, you come away yearning to see what Tim Burton might have done with the same basic concept and some puppets.