Never Let Me Go - 2010 - 4 Stars

Actors:  Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield
Director:  Mark Romanek

Note:  Minor spoilers ahead

Dystopian films often follow a prescribed narrative - tons of exposition, as wide a look as we can possibly get at the dystopian world, then an escape.  Never Let Me Go is a dystopia that suggests a world actually lived in; it's not loads of security that keep people where they are, but a recognition of their ultimate fate.  Indeed, it seems as though we've missed a lot of exposition, but this works to the film's advantage - it keeps us in a similar state to our characters.  Like many films adapted from books, the plot feels messy, but I enjoy when a film suggests a large world outside the view of the camera lens for our imaginations to play around in.

We're hardly aware that this film takes place in a different society than our own - in this way, the film reminded me of Tarkovsky's Stalker - directors too often mistrust a viewer's eyes, not realizing that good acting and writing can make up for what seem to be budgetary limitations.