• Grace Wang in Toronto
Whenever I saw a plastic bag, a mixed feeling of benevolence and mild annoyance used to bubble up within me. When not neatly stacked by the cashier in a store or filled with stuff, they were usually flapping in the wind making unnecessary noises or worse, trailing in the gutter or sidewalk, being useless. Their life as intended was over, but they seemed oblivious.
These feeling changed after I first read the novel "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro, which in its almost-casual prose and easy pace, threaded me through the legendary grounds of Hailsham and the damp English countryside with Ruth, Tommy, and Kathy. Along the way I sat beside the girls while they bonded, and stood beside the boys while they yelled. Throughout their lives, I got to know these three people, and they became real to me. By the time the book completed, so had they, but I was not.
I did not want it to end.
Thus I put it away, and avoided seeing the film adaptation of the same name, "Never Let Me Go" (2010), directed by Mark Romanek, for some time. Eventually curiosity took over, and I finally watched the movie. From start to finish, it was like no time had passed at all, and I was once again absorbed into the world of Hailsham, those children, and their brief, hurried lives.
Hailsham is a special place, built for special people. As a boarding school, it provides its students with everything they need to obtain happiness: food, shelter, education, safety, order. Especially order. Children don't require much, and they mold easily into their environments. They take in everything straight through clear, non-cynical eyes, and believe that things are exactly as told, that they are exactly as they seem.
Of course, that is a lie. Because adults are running Hailsham, and their worlds can no longer afford to be as idyllic as those of the children they have come to bear.
And life goes on as planned. For Ruth (Keira Knightley), Tommy (Andrew Garfield) and Kathy (Carey Mulligan), a smooth trajectory has been laid out from birth to completion. They are special. They are encouraged to draw, to produce art, to be healthy. None of them question these requests. However, questions do sprout up...about each other, those natural curiosities of the opposite sex and the innate awareness of their differences. Kathy is fascinated by Tommy, who despite his temperamental flaws, has heart and thoughts. She watches him, digests him, one day approaches him with an unexpected gentle touch, and their lives intersected. Tommy, surprised by such kindness, returns the favor the only way a boy knows how: he buys her a gift, which Kathy would treasure at unexpected moments later on.
Throughout all this Ruth watches. Carefully. Thoughtfully. She is a precocious child, and she has her own plans too. One day, she decides that Tommy is the boy she wants the most, and she goes on to have him. Before they know it, the fact is set, and life keeps on going.
Some things in life are within our control, others are beyond. This much we know...but, do we really know? Ishiguro hints at these mysteries through subtle, patient details: a pavilion on the courtyard, a flushed teacher, an universal rumor, a seaside town, a brightly lit shop, an abandoned ship. Each fact, alone, is just a fact. Together, they interwoven into a fog of chilled alarm that seeps into every pore of the book, and thankfully, in Romanek's capable hands, the film as well.
Bathed in waning twilight and clear mornings, the film is beautifully shot and almost minimalistic with its choice of settings and colors. Roads are bare. Forests are sparse. Hospitals are clean. There is not a speck out of place, just like the lives quietly and relentlessly shuffled through these roads, trees, and hallways. Indeed, there is a sense of muted helplessness in the way these characters are moved through their lives: so sure they are of what lie ahead of them, and so resolute they are in continuing on their journeys toward the end, that it is both a tragedy of innocence and integrity.
"After all, it's what we're supposed to be doing, isn't it?"
Innocence is gained and lost, and not a trace left to be remembered.
As in "One Hour Photo" (2002), using his visual sensibilities, Romanek deftly effuses a tone of simmering repression that befits the story so beautifully. There is a sense of wrongfulness, hovering, just ebbing below the surface, familiar and yet chilling, that the audience can't help but become anxious for the fate of these characters - aching for them - and in the process caring that much more deeply. All three leads are well-cast, with Garfield and Mulligan putting in especially moving performances. Ishiguro's prose is cinema-ready, but his subtle craft of pace and tone is difficult to replicate within a two hour time frame. The film manages to succinctly distill the fundamental structure and tone of its original source, a difficult job well done by screenwriter Alex Garland. However, in the process it leaves out much of the earlier years at Hailsham, which though a sensible choice, leaves the characterizations somewhat thin. What kind of person is Ruth? Why did Tommy go along with it? How did Kathy bear through all these years? There are many lessons of forgiveness and understanding there. If you are taken with the movie, the book will take you much further.
Most of all, beyond the backdrop of repressed ethics and questioned morality, this is a love story of three essentially decent people who have known each other all their lives. They loved each other. They wronged each other. But in the end, it is their love that they remembered. It is their love that warmed them as they were laid down in the hospital beds. It is their love that trembled their fingers while they were pushed through the spotless hallways. It is their love that lingered on their lips and leaked from their eyes as they looked through the glass and donated the last, good, piece of themselves. It is in their love that they completed.
It is therefore, in love, that I am reminded once again of the book, the film, and its ending. A piece of plastic sheeting caught on a barbed wire fence, flapping in the wind against the setting sun. It is no longer a bag: too torn from its life lived, too many bits missing. But there it is, flapping, holding on to a fence that senselessly separates one empty field to another. In between, the wind blew, the sun shined, time passed, lives unraveled. Gazing through half-closed eyes into the twilight, I thought, how nice it is to have and to be had, how nice it is to be loved, if only for a while.
Grace Wang's blog is at e t h e r i e l - m u s i n g s.
She Twitters at @etherielmusings.
Your review is beautiful. Thank you for writing this.
Gooooo, Gracie! Next, could you review "Travelers and Magicians"? XOX
Gooooo, Gracie! Next, could you review "Travelers and Magicians"? XOX
This is all fairly right on. It's the only time I've never been able to seperate the book from the movie and if anyone has read the book then you'd understand. As stated, the possible hole in the movie is that they weren't as developed as children and the school wasn't as developed either. I would have loved for it to be a 3 hour movie where each hour is dedicated to each part of the book.
Mr. Ebert, what do you think of Andrew Garfield? He was really good in Red Riding, and fairly great in Never Let Me Go and The Social Network. Do you think he has an Oscar nomination coming up for either of the two movies from 2010? I'm sure Christian Bale probably has the upper hand on everyone and Geoffrey Rush was awesome but I'd think the Academy would have to take notice of Andrew Garfield
Hi Grace,
I just read your essay and loved it. Excellent work as usual. Keep it going! What you have described so wonderfully and eloquently, sums up this great and underrated film to a tee. "Never Let Me Go" is a film more audiences need to see. I'm now more inclined to read the book.
The way you are able to perfectly capture the mood of each film you review is a rare gift, Grace. I hope you never let go of your love of film, nor of your love of reviewing them.
Ishiguro is one of the few novelists whose complete works I hope to read someday. So far, I've only read We Were Orphans and The Remains of the Day--both great, though the latter book reaches a sublimity that is rarely reached in literature. If you haven't read them yet, I would highly recommend that you do.
Your writing carries the exact image that the music creates at the end of your article. If the film is anything like either, i'm sure i'll relish it deeply. What a beautiful thought, love and impermanence...
I read "Never Let Me Go" in last year(it was one of my best books I read in 2010) and wondered about how they could adapt this novel. The adaptation is easy because of its easy prose, but the major challenge is setting that subtle, gray tone to convey "a fog of chilled alarm that seeps into every pore of the book". The movie could have been hollow or boring if they had not handled it right on the screen.
I watched the movie in this week. It is not perfect. By limiting Hailsham part, it has some weakness in characterization as you pointed out. None the less, it is compensated by the performances, and the movie preserves not only the atmosphere of Ishiguro's novel but also sadness and poignancy surrounded by it. You captured that right tone in the movie and delivered it effectively to me in your writing, Grace. I am probably not as enthusiastic as you about the movie, but "Never Let Me Go" is a good movie that deserves more audiences. As Omar said, keep it going, Grace.
Thank you everyone. This was one of those things that couldn't be helped. I hope it moved you enough to see the film and read the book, if you haven't already.
Your sentiments are fully appreciated. Thanks for reading.
Great Review! I agree with most of it. I didn´t expect for the movie to include every detail of the book so I thought it did a pretty good job adapting that great novel. Obviously they couldn´t dedicate more scenes to Hailsham because the movie stars weren't in those scenes so they had to give them most of the screen time. But there´s a scene that I have no idea why it wasn´t included in the movie, and it is when Kathy is singing Never Let Me Go while hugging her pillow and Madame cries while seeing her. I think not only that it is one of the most beautiful scenes in the book, but that it sums up one of the most important themes of the novel. But well, maybe Alex Garland didn´t think that scene (which wouldn´t have taken more than 30 seconds of screen time) was that important.
I have read the book but not yet seen the movie. Your review and writing style are lovely. Whenever I see a plastic bag being tossed by the wind, I am grateful for my life. The end of American Beauty, remember?
Wonderfully put as always. Regarding that plastic bag metaphor at the end of the film, perhaps the connection to Kathy and the plastic shreds expands to mean that the Hailsham children, just like those shreds now flapping in the wind, have been used and are now discarded, abandoned, forgotten.
Never Let Me Go is a superb film, I personally never thought ANYONE could make Ishiguro's amazing novel into a film. They compliment each other perfectly.
I was amazed to see that some people are so undemanding. It's kind of unfair to praise this disappointing film when there are film makers doing so much more interesting filmmaking with fewer resources. I found the film tedious and unconvincing. Knightly, never a good actress, was woefully miscast.
The film makers failed to create an alternative reality for the audience who hadn't read the book. I couldn't tell where it was located or when. I never believed these kids were clones, whereas it should have been unclear to the audience.
And all I could think about throughout the film is why the kids (or adults) didn't escape? I know of no one who didn't ask the same question.
If the message is that love is the most important thing when life is short, why did the lovers remain separated most of their lives? Why didn't they seek out one another? If Garfield's character loved him so much, why did he allow himself to be seduced by Knightly? And what two vital organs could anyone lose without dying let alone running across the beach.
Check out Joe Losey's wonderful cold war film THE DAMNED about school kids kept isolated from the world so they could be used to start a new civilization in the event of a nuclear war. They are radiated adn can't go near humans. Here, a stranger comes to town, finds the children and does everything in his power to help them escape: even if it means his death and the potential end of civilization. Turns out, civilization didn't end.