Never Let Me Go

Never Let Me Go follows the lives of three childhood friends, Kathy, Tommy and Ruth, growing up in an isolated English boarding school. This is no ordinary school, however; the children never set foot outside the grounds, regularly undergo stringent medical examinations and are constantly reminded how "special" they are by the teaching staff. As they grow older the full extent of their purpose in life is made clear, and their relationships become a tangled web of emotions as they are finally released into the outside world to fulfil their destiny.

If that all sounds a bit vague, it is very difficult to discuss the plot of Never Let Me Go without giving away the most crucial elements of the story; suffice to say this is no ordinary romantic drama, taking place in a familiar and yet subtly different reality from our own. Adapted from the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro (The Remains of the Day), the film remains exceptionally faithful to the source material, effectively capturing both the emotional core of the story and its soberingly bleak outlook on humanity. The acting from Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield and Keira Knightley is excellent and Mark Romanek's direction is assured. The cinematography and music also stand out in what in my opinion is one of the finest films of 2010.

The critical reaction to Never Let Me Go has been surprisingly lukewarm - I suspect many are frustrated by the main characters' general apathy and acceptance of their fate. This is of course missing the point of just how powerful indoctrination of children can be, evidence of which can be found all around us in our everyday lives. Personally I think the film is superior to the majority of the Oscar-nominated films of last year and I am disappointed at how much it has been overlooked. Having been somewhat lax in writing this review, the opportunity to see the film at the cinema has now almost passed, but I would certainly recommend seeking it out in the future.

VERDICT: An excellent, if somewhat melancholy movie, well worth seeing.

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Paul

Graeme (Simon Pegg) and Clive (Nick Frost) are two British 30-something sci-fi geeks finally living out their childhood dream of attending the San Diego Comic Con and embarking on a road trip across America. Of course, as make their way through the famous UFO hotspots of the American desert, the last thing they are expecting to do is to run into an actual alien calling himself Paul. Upon meeting the pot-smoking, foul-mouthed and worldly-wise extra-terrestrial their journey becomes a race to return Paul home before they are caught by a parade of secret agents, crazed Christians and angry hicks.

It is inevitable that any Pegg/Frost comedy is going to draw comparisons with Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and in that regard, Paul is clearly not in the same league. That said, Paul is still a very entertaining and amusing romp, undeserving of the critical lambasting it has been receiving. The film has also fallen prey to misleading marketing - the trailers made it out to be a puerile stream of toilet jokes when in fact the humour is considerably more intelligent (albeit not ground-breaking either). One of my favourite moments involves a young Creationist woman being converted to Atheism after meeting Paul - although you do get the feeling that Pegg and Frost had to tone this part of the screenplay down to appease the American studio executives.

Overall, Paul is nothing remarkable but still offers plenty of fun, especially if you're a bit of a sci-fi geek yourself.

VERDICT: It's fun - give it a go.

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