To The Movies: Never Let Me Go

When a storyline from a book is turned into a movie, the movie becomes its own text. The basic storyline may be the same, but when changes are made in order to fit the movie within a time limit or to highlight an element or theme that the people involved in the movie feels is important—they make the story their own. I will focus these features on movies made based on books I have read—I want to look beyond whether I think the movie is better or worse than the book. I want to appreciate and review the movie as a companion to the book
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Genre: Drama, Romance
Actors: Keira Knightley, Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, Izzy Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe
Director: Mark Romanek
Scriptwriter: Alex Garland
Date DVD Released: February 1, 2011
MPAA Rating: R
Movie Info: IMDB
Order Online: Amazon.com
Rating: 2 Stars
Borrowed from the library.

In A Nutshell:
I do not know what I expected from this movie.  I am glad I watched it after reading the book, but I do not think I would watch it again.  I did not find it compelling or gripping--just okay and a fairly accurate telling of the story in the book.

Review:
I am not sure what I hoped to gain from watching the movie since I was not overly impressed with the book.  But when I saw it at the library--I decided to take the leap.

In some ways, I felt the movie explained the program better and more quickly than in the book.  Miss Lucy explained what the Hailsham students could expect out of their life fairly clearly near the beginning of the movie.  It was heartbreaking as the camera panned across the faces of the students as Miss Lucy talked--the look on their faces as they absorbed what she said mixed with the innocence of not quite understanding the full impact of what they are being told. 

However, it did have an impact on the later scene when Tommy and Kathy go to see Miss Emily to ask for a deferment because they are in love.  In the book, this scene was so powerful because it was the first time the program is really explained in the book.  Since the movie explained the program in more detail earlier--this scene in the movie lacked some of the power of the book. 

Recommendations:
After watching this movie, I felt the need for a good laugh--and thought of another Keira Knightley movie:

The Book Addict Reviews: Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

Genre: Science Fiction
Order Online: Amazon.com
Author Info: Goodreads
Rating: 2 stars
Borrowed this book from the library. 

In A Nutshell:
This book is about reflection.  It is about transitions.  It is about changes.  But it is also about accepting those things in your life that you cannot change.  Accepting, but still striving to have the best life that you can.  Overall, I am glad that I read this book, but I am also very glad that I borrowed it from the library rather than buying it.

Review:
Imagine a world where people are created in order to provide organs for the organ donor program.  But in exchange, these people have no chance at a normal life.  No chance to have children.  No chance to experience love.  No chance to live a full life.  From the time they reach adulthood, they care for other donors until they become donors themselves.

The story is told from the prospective of Kathy, one of the people who was created to be a donor.  She is about to transition from being a Carer to being a Donor.  This transition leads her to reflect on her childhood at Hailsham, a boarding school she attended with other children like her; other children created for the organ donor program.

The details in this book come out slowly.  We get hints about the program, about the role the Hailsham students play in the program, what kind of life the students expect to have, but we do not get a lot of detail until we have finished about three-fourths of the book.  As one of the characters describe it, they are "told, but not told."  And since the reader gets the story through Kathy's experience, the reader is also "told, but not told."

In some ways, the story felt disjointed.  It is told from Kathy's memories and recollections.  She would tell the stories as they came to her.  As one story would remind her of another story, she would make a note in the book to tell us that story later.  Consequently, the book is not really in chronological order.  So it was sometimes hard to see how the stories are connected or how they flow across the course of Kathy's life.

I do appreciate books that are reflective--that make me think about my life, my choices, my freedoms, etc.  And I did find that and appreciate that in this book.  But I also found the book slow to develop.  The book lacked action.  Yes, the characters did things, but the reader was not really part of that action.  The reader is just told about the action.  

Recommendations:
After reading this book, I want to watch the movie and see how it compares: