**Sort Of Spoiler Alert**

Mark Romanek’s cloning drama turned out to be secret screening #2 at Fantastic Fest. Never Let Me Go is about a school for kids who find out they’re being bred solely to donate organs, and they’ll probably die after three or four donations. There was an action movie version of this a few years ago, but it wasn’t very good and didn’t do very well so Romanek’s version may as well be original.

More after the jump…

The first section, when the characters are kids, is a really sweet exploration of youthful discovery. It’s a little more sheltered and innocent than usual coming of age dramas, but it fits with that genre until the teacher explains the plot to them. When they grow into teenagers, they’re still innocent like kids.

Kathy (Carey Mulligan) loves Tommy (Andrew Garfield) but he gets more romantically close with Ruth (Keira Knightley). That is, if they knew what romance was, that’s how they’d be paired off but even that is awkward for these sheltered specimens. For all their education, they still can’t make sense of their feelings or physical touches. Eventually, the trio gets out into the world and they can barely order food at a diner.

The performances are good. They go from innocent to tragic at different points in the story. It’s a really mellow drama about how people live life with limited experiences and information. Once they are adults, the three characters only represent slightly different levels of maturity, but none of them are whole grown-ups.

It’s good sci-fi, just dealing with the concept of people bred for harvesting on a personal level. It’s not that exciting or eventful. They just have to live with this knowledge and either get the most out of life, or resign themselves to being a medical specimen. There’s not much to say because the characters are purposefully stunted, they have so little invested in life.

The language of the film is stark. They talk about “completing” as when they’re finished donating, which means they’ll die. Words like “donor” and “original” take on new philosophical meanings.

The film looks rather dreary, not necessarily because of the subject matter. Just every place from the children’s academy to the overcast city to medical facilities look very gray. Maybe it’s supposed to represent the lives Kathy, Tommy and Ruth lead or maybe it’s just England.

I appreciate Never Let Me Go. I don’t know if I like it. It does things right as a character study and maintains the ambiguity that the Michael Bay version needed. Other than the exercise of doing it right though, it’s not necessarily entertaining.

_{"Their proteins aren’t sustainable?!…"}

The trailer has been released for Mark Romanek‘s adaptation of the novel Never Let Me Go. The screenplay for the dramatic thriller was written by Alex Garland (28 Days Later, Sunshine), and is about "a group of children who spent their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school, who as they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them." 

But what’s the haunting reality?! I don’t want to ruin it for all the cry babies, but if you pay close attention to the trailer you’ll probably be able to figure it out. Mark Romanek last directed One Hour Photo, the movie that ruined my romantic relationship with my CVS photo developer, so except some trippy moments between Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, and Andrew Garfield. It would be great if the twist involved Robin Williams somehow. I don’t CARE if it’s taking liberties with the source material! Go back to Woodstock, hippie!

Never Let Me Go hits theaters October 1, 2010.

Check out the trailer below.

Never Let Me Go – Trailer – Watch more Movie Trailers

Director: Mark Romanek

Cast: Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley, Sally Hawkins

Synopsis: About a group of children who spent their childhood at a seemingly idyllic English boarding school, who as they “grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them.

Release Date: October 1, 2010