Mostly Positive Reactions from Telluride for Never Let Me Go

Variety‘s Peter Debruge frames his extended forecast in terms of temperamental climate conditions in the blogosphere: “Never Let Me Go is that rare find, a fragile little four-leaf clover of a movie that’s emotionally devastating, yet all too easily trampled by cynics.”

Romanek, best known for his visionary musicvideo work, tries to hold back anything that might brand the film as overly personal, and yet, as in “One Hour Photo,” his gift for texture and tone shines through. Once again, the helmer seems drawn to the melancholy side of his material, directing the cast, especially Mulligan, to play everything as if teetering on the brink of a complete emotional breakdown.

This extreme approach requires a level of commitment not only from the cast but from the audience as well, asking us to look past huge plausibility holes… and instead dedicate our attention to deciphering the subtlest of nonverbal cues, often aided by Rachel Portman’s effectively grief-inducing score and Adam Kimmel’s lensing, which transforms every image into a source for introspection. A few faint wisps of narration aside, Mulligan does most of her work without dialogue, relying on engaged auds to piece together what Kathy is thinking.

Despite perpetrating a number of significant changes from the novel, Garland really gets to the marrow of it, raising philosophical questions about science and the soul that trace all the way back to Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein.” With its ties to contemporary medical ethics as well, “Never Let Me Go” is the type of film that invites discussion after the fact, proving Romanek has more on his mind than simply making people cry.

Alex Billington at FirstShowing says Never Let Me Go is “a beautiful film, full of fantastic performances and incredibly moving and emotional.”

It’s a love triangle story, but with a conceptual twist, which I won’t dare spoil… There are many great elements to the film: Adam Kimmel’s very beautiful cinematography, Carey Mulligan’s phenomenal performance (she’s primarily the focus of the film), Rachel Portman’s mesmerizing score, Mark Romanek’s careful direction, even the concept and story overall…

It admittedly takes quite a bit for me to get fully emotionally invested in a film and its characters, but Never Let Me Go achieved that. I was sucked into the story and couldn’t let go myself, even believing the hope that was in the mind of the characters, despite realizing afterward that they wouldn’t have possibly reached the resulted I wanted to see anyway (sorry for being so vague about it).

Peter Sciretta at Slashfilm says, “the film is emotionally powerful, a haunting meditation about love, death, humanity and acceptance.”

Rachel Portman, who won an Academy award for her score in Chocolat, and was nominated for The Cider House Rules and Emma, delivers her best original score in the last decade. Romanek presents the dystopian British countryside as beautiful yet bleak, which nicely compliments the mood and tone of the film. There is so much underlying detail in this movie that I feel inadequate reviewing it after only one screening…

The film is broken up into three parts, time periods as the children grow up into teenagers, and later, adults. Each one of these chapters could have been a film in itself. I felt myself wanting to be in this world longer. I’m wondering if there is a longer director’s cut somewhere, although I’m not sure much was cut from these segments, as the edit seems very clean and calculated.

David Poland at MCN, explains that the movie doesn’t depend on the plot twist: “…it‚Äôs not about the reveal. There are no Gotcha moments. What gets you is the lack of shock.”

The production is elegant. The performances are virtually perfect across the board… There is remarkable work from cinematographer Adam Kimmel, editor Barney Pilling, production designer Mark Digby, and set decorator Michelle Day, amongst a mighty crew.

For me, Never Let Me Go is why I love cinema. It is smart and demanding and emotional and rigorous and profoundly artful. It is more than “a good story well told.” It is humanity on a screen. And it trusts us, as thinking, feeling adults, to do the work.

Though Kris Tapley at In Contention was unmoved by the same same sense of submissive numbness that permeates the novel to such chilling effect:

There is a distance here, a cold sense of removal from what would otherwise be an extremely moving narrative. I wanted desperately to feel for the characters and their plight (I won’t hazard particulars for fear of spoilers). But I felt nothing…at all.

Of the cast, I was most responsive to Carey Mulligan’s nearly catatonic state of inward consideration and turmoil, but Keira Knightley gets plenty of time to shine, while Andrew Garfield develops a unique character that nevertheless remained elusive when a sense of connection was sorely needed.

Everyone agrees on one thing: Oscar-winner Rachel Portman’s score is extraordinary.