What do you do on Valentine’s Day? You see a tragic movie, of course. Me and my girlfriend have a habit of seeing unconventional films on special occasions. We’ve seen Closer, the Ian Curtis biopic, which has a rather unsettling final half-an-hour. We’ve seen The Boy In The Stripped Pyjamas, a story about two kids trying to be friends even though a concentration camp fence separates them. Any feature presentation about that subject matter is going to be tough, especially if the main characters are children. It’s safe to say that we don’t pick conventional films. This is why we saw Never Let Me Go in Guildford last week whilst everyone else went to see The King’s Speech for the umpteenth time.
There is not a lot I can say about it without giving away the plot but I can provide a ‘nutshell’ description. It’s a story about three people who learn early on in life about an ‘unfortunate event’ that is going to happen to them. The rest of the time is spent looking at the relationships between the three of them and follows them as they get older.
Needless to say though, it is deeply moving and there is a very good chance that you will cry. Perhaps even more than once. The cast is very strong and Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield are both, in particular, excellent.
Other highlights include the direction of Mark Romanek – can you believe he used to direct the disturbingly sexy video for Closer by Nine Inch Nails all those years ago? – and the soundtrack, which I thought was suitable in terms of tone. Infact, after a lot of time to reflect I still don’t think any less of it. I was wondering whether tears would have skewed my thoughts but they haven’t – it’s still a film I’d highly recommend.
What’s quite confusing is how this has received little to no attention as the awards season has been and gone. This premiered at the London Film Festival with people behind it expecting nominations galore. In the end, it’s been snubbed altogether. This could be because competition this year is so good (Inception, The Social Network, The King’s Speech etc.) and that in any other year they might have had a chance. Something this good shouldn’t be swept under the carpet. It’s worth keeping an eye out for this when it’s released on DVD; I hope at least then it finds the audience it richly deserves.
