Never Let Me Go: Press reviews

'Never Let Me Go is a perfect example of British film at its very best; it's a sombre piece of work, yet its sheer quality will lift the gloomiest of spirits. The film, adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro's novel of the same name, stars three of our brightest young actors - Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley. All of them are still only in their mid-20s, yet they have a global reputation that is richly deserved. And all of them are outstanding in never Let Me Go.'

'A beautifully realised adaptation of a profoundly affecting novel. Intelligent sci-fi provides the backdrop, while in the foreground is a trio of truly impressive performances from Mulligan, Knightley and Garfield.'

London Film Festival - 'It features three of the UK's hottest stars. A better example of how Britain punches above its weight in the film world would be hard to find.'

'One of this year's prestige-picture casualties, a coolly sensitive literary offering which has been barged aside, a little unjustly, by more ingratiating attractions.'

London Film Festival - 'With such a smart, controlled script you end up wishing the film were a little more radical'

"The film, by its form's nature, puts too much reality before us... Nice attempt, director Mark Romanek (One Hour Photo) and team. Now I'll try the book"

London Film Festival - 'The film withholds the explicit fear and passion that another kind of treatment might have aimed for, but it works as a cogent, subdued parable of mortality.'

'The movie turns from a thriller into an intriguing, suggestive philosophical work about love, life, mortality and the choice we face between challenging our destinies or accepting them.'

At Toronto - 'Mulligan confirms her newly won status with a watchful, still, compassionate performance'

'Alas, what's missing is the spark of life, the jolt of the unexpected — something beyond tears — to puncture the falseness of a film world, which, by its insistence on its own beauty, obscures the tragedy that the three characters, by their nature, cannot express.'

"The piece comes across as ­uneventful, devoid of tension and disappointingly superficial in its view of a parallel dystopia"

At Toronto - 'the acting is the highlight of the movie, including from those in minor roles, such as Charlotte Rampling as the school's strict headmistress...Romanek wants to make a mood piece about the nature of love, The lack of dramatic tension means it's difficult to emotionally connect with the central characters and their dilemma.'

'It's an adap of a novel by one of Britain's best authors (Kazuo Ishiguro), stars some of our hottest young talent and deals with themes of no less importance than the human soul.'

'Whichever way you chop it, this is less than the sum of its body parts.'