Never Let Me Go

Mark Romanek’s Never Let Me Go was the black sheep of awards season, as distributor Fox Searchlight chose to back 127 Hours and Black Swan instead of this achingly sensitive yet relatively unsentimental film. An adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s highly regarded novel, Never Let Me Go presents an unusual challenge to spoiler-averse critics, as any mention of “cloning programs” and “government conspiracies” would conjure expectations of fast-paced sci-fi rather than this stately drama. Better then to simply praise the depth of the performances, especially in comparison to 28 Days Later screenwriter Alex Garland’s so-so script. In just two years, Carey Mulligan has already earned my implicit trust as an actress—her sideways glances say more than most actors could do with a lengthy monologue. Supporting her, Andrew Garfield shows that his Social Network promise was not misguided, and Keira Knightley gives a good “against-type” performance.