Keira Knightley: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

2. Ruth C. - Never Let Me Go (2010)

Mark Romanek needs to make more films. One Hour Photo was a compelling, well-made thriller featuring one of Robin Williams' most electifying performances, as a photo technician who obsesses over a family whose films he develops. And then there's his most recent effort, Never Let Me Go, a little-seen British gem which is sure to take its place as one of the most underrated sci-fi films of the last ten years. Never Let Me Go is based on Kazuo Ishiguro's novel of the same name, adapted by Alex Garland (The Beach). It takes place in an alternate reality where medical advances have led to human cloning, with the clones' organs being harvested to prolong the lives of other human beings. The film follows the adult lives of three such clones, played by Knightley, Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield, and the love triangle that evolves between them. Never Let Me Go is a very clinical film, drawing equally on dystopian sci-fi and period drama to tell a tragic story about human ethics and the fleeting nature of existence. It's a very moving piece of work, brought to life by the three main performances. Mulligan and Garfield's credentials are widely known from their subsequent work, but Knightley is just as good, capturing a sense of distance from the world while longing for something deeper than her eventual purpose. It's a moving performance in an equally moving film, and both demand much greater attention.