Never Let Me Go 2010

Christy Lemire, Associated Press: Philosophically provocative and achingly sad, Never Let Me Go manages to touch the mind and the heart at once, and with equal measure. Read more

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: It unfolds with the beautiful poisoned grace of a viper readying to strike. ... it haunts and hurts in equal measure. Read more

Manohla Dargis, New York Times: Everything is in its place, including the overly tidied-up meaning. Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: Ishiguro's book was an unconvincing blend of repressed romance and speculative fiction, with superficial too-polite prose and a clunky approach to narrative secrecy that wouldn't fool the gang on Scooby-Doo. Read more

Joe Morgenstern, Wall Street Journal: For its delicate tone, provocative themes, impeccable craftsmanship and superb performances -- by Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley -- Never Let Me Go earned my great admiration. Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: The movie works beautifully even if you know what's coming and knowing it makes the film's strangely beautiful early scenes even more poignant. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: The movie is uneven, largely because it's trying something unusual and ambitious. But that unusual ambition also makes it deeply moving. Read more

Wesley Morris, Boston Globe: Never Let Me Go could have been assembled from the Merchant-Ivory kit. It's stale with suppressed anguish. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The theme of Ishiguro's novel -- that we all construct delicate fictions to mask the dehumanization of modern life -- proves so elusive onscreen that by the last scene it has to be spelled out in a clumsy, didactic voice-over. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: The film is a success. It works. Greatness eludes it, yes. But greatness eludes almost every film adaptation of a major novel, which we must remember when confronted by a good one. Read more

Amy Biancolli, Houston Chronicle: Never Let Me Go is gorgeous. And depressing. It's exquisitely acted. And depressing. It's romantic, profound and superbly crafted, shot with the self-contained radiance of a snow globe. And it's depressing. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: Never Let Me Go is strangely moving and mournful, but I wish more had been made of the beauty these people are relinquishing, if only as a counterweight to all that artful drear. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: The combination of social anguish and dark chill in Never Let Me Go packs a quietly devastating punch. Read more

Tom Long, Detroit News: Oddly cold and detached, as if director Mark Romanek and screenwriter Alex Garland couldn't decide precisely how to interpret Kazuo Ishiguro's popular novel and so they just laid it out flat. And flat it feels. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: It's a very tony fantasy of class oppression and fascist medical exploitation (themes that may speak louder in England), but it's a lyrically inert movie. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: I felt more connection to, and sympathy for, these characters in their far-fetched situation than I've felt for a lot of "normal" fictional people lately. Read more

Stephen Farber, Hollywood Reporter: Lugubrious study of the perils of genetic engineering. Read more

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times: This is a moving and provocative film that initially unsettles, then disturbs and finally haunts you well into the night. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Never Let Me Go, director Mark Romanek's introspective adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro's novel, is a work of subtle beauty -- a melancholy meditation on the finality of life and the choices we make as our time shortens. Read more

David Denby, New Yorker: The movie is a zombie art picture. And nothing in it takes hold of us emotionally. Read more

Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News: Romanek does an extraordinary job translating Ishiguro's deliberate, almost excruciating pace onto the big screen: His images haunt us in much the same way the author's words do. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Science fiction movies don't come much more ponderous than the beautifully filmed Never Let Me Go, which reduces the debate over genetic engineering to a mild, moist romantic soap opera. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Never Let Me Go is sci-fi for the Belle & Sebastian set. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: Romanek, a highly respected music video director making his follow-up to One Hour Photo, has crafted a motion picture that is as visually impressive as it is emotionally distant. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: Never Let Me Go would have made a serious error in ramping up contrived melodrama toward some sort of science-fiction showdown. This is a movie about empathy. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Here's a movie you can't get out of your head, a sci-fi horror story with the seductive allure of a classic romance. Read more

Andrew O'Hehir, Salon.com: Romanek does so many difficult things beautifully in this movie, which richly deserves the Oscar consideration it will surely receive. Read more

Colin Covert, Minneapolis Star Tribune: Never Let Me Go is a touching, thoughtful, sublimely acted prestige drama based on a fantasy premise. Read more

Rick Groen, Globe and Mail: The emotional impact creeps up on the reader only gradually. Then, bam, it hits forcefully, memorably, and, yes, never lets us go. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It may rob the film of drama, but Romanek has erred on the side of quality, crafting a beautifully cast and artfully rendered allegory of lost youth and trampled innocence. Read more

Tom Huddleston, Time Out: Pretty, empty, and immediately forgettable. Read more

Scott Bowles, USA Today: While the movie doesn't stoop to synopsizing its source material, we need some explanation why these kids aren't in a car and on the lam. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: That rare find, a fragile little four-leaf clover of a movie that's emotionally devastating, yet all too easily trampled by cynics. Read more

J. Hoberman, Village Voice: Pervaded by a cosmic wistfulness, the movie Never Let Me Go is melancholy where the novel is haunting. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Read more