Never Let Me Go, A Story About Three People's Emotional Entanglements

If ever proof were needed that cultural snobbery is alive and well, it’s right here. ‘Never Let Me Go’ is a film so ashamed of its own genre trappings that it goes to extreme and illogical lengths to pretend they don’t exist. Carey Mulligan, Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield play Kathy, Ruth and Tommy, pupils at a strange English boarding school who slowly learn that they’re being bred for a grim purpose – and one we can’t fully reveal without a spoiler.

The film begins with on-screen captions explaining that a medical breakthrough in 1952 has permitted the human lifespan to be extended beyond 100 years. Subsequently, the film is narrated by 28-year-old Kathy H (Carey Mulligan) as she reminisces about her childhood at aboarding school called Hailsham, as well as her adult life after leaving the school. The first act of the film depicts the young Kathy (Izzy Meikle-Small), along with her friends Tommy (Charlie Rowe) and Ruth (Ella Purnell), spending their childhood at Hailsham in the late 1970s. The school seems to be somewhat unusual. Students are encouraged to create artwork such as paintings and poetry instead of science and maths normal for school children, and their best work gets into "The Gallery." There is also a strong emphasis on "keeping yourselves healthy inside" especially when it comes to smoking. At one point, a new teacher, Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) quietly informs the students of their nature: they exist only as donor organs for transplants, and will die - or, rather, "complete" - in their early adulthood. The following day Miss Lucy is "no longer working at Hailsham." As time passes, Kathy and Tommy fall in love, but Tommy falls into a manipulative relationship with Ruth. Ruth and Tommy stay together throughout the rest of their time at Hailsham.

In the second act of the film, the three friends, now young adults, are rehoused in cottages on a farm. They are permitted to leave the grounds if they wish but are resigned to their eventual fate, seeing it as inevitable. At the farm, they meet former pupils of schools similar to theirs, two of which one day sight a woman in a nearby town who they believe to be a "possible" for Ruth, her "original" - the person she was cloned from. Ruth is ecstatic at the prospect, but when she, Kathy, Tommy and the two witnesses travel to the coast to re-examine the woman, there turns out to be very little resemblance. Ruth, bitter and disillusioned, rages that all donors are "modeled on trash," meaning that they are cloned from the people lowest in society, or, in her words, "in the gutter."

From the others, Kathy and her friends hear rumors of the possibility of "deferral" – a temporary reprieve from organ donation for donors who are in love and can somehow prove it. Tommy becomes convinced that The Gallery at Hailsham, was intended to look into their souls and that artwork sent to The Gallery will be able to verify true love. He hereby hints at his feelings for Kathy, but she misinterprets his words to signify that he wants to apply for a deferral with Ruth. She is visibly distressed. The relationship between Tommy and Ruth becomes sexual, putting a strain on Kathy's friendships with the two. Kathy, feeling the need to distance herself, leaves the cottages to become a "carer" – a clone who is given a temporary reprieve from donation to do the job of supporting and comforting donors as they give up their organs. Tommy and Ruth's relationship ends shortly before her departure, though it is not depicted but revealed through Kathy's narration.

In the third and final act of the film, ten years later, Kathy is working as a carer. She has watched many clones gradually "complete" as their organs are harvested. Kathy has not seen Ruth or Tommy since the cottages. While working as a carer, Kathy happens to meet Ruth again, who is frail and unwell after two donations. They find Tommy, who is also weakened, and the three of them drive to the sea as a short trip at Ruth's request. There, Ruth asks for their forgiveness for keeping them apart. She admits she has always known that Kathy and Tommy were meant to be together because their love for each other was real, whereas Ruth was with Tommy because she was jealous of his closeness to Kathy and afraid to be "left alone." She tells them it was the worst thing she ever did and now she wants to put it right, then claims she has found a means to do so: she has found the address of the gallery owner, Madame from Hailsham, whom she thinks may grant deferrals to couples in love. With some reluctance due to skepticism, Kathy accepts the opportunity. Shortly afterward, Ruth dies on the operating table when another organ is extracted.

A moment passes in which she looks at me as though I’ve just asked the head of MI5 if I can have a go on his computer. 'Definitely not answering that. No!’ she exclaims with a big, angry laugh.

At this point the film’s publicist – who has been sitting in the corridor listening in on our interview – approaches the big, round table where the actress and I are talking. He glances from me to her, her to me.

Eventually he backs away, arms out to the side and still facing us as if ready to rugby-tackle me to the ground should I attempt any more personal questions. The atmosphere in the room is terrible.

I think back to the things I've read about Knightley before meeting her: how she always used to keep herself to herself on film sets, how, according to Carey Mulligan, 'she reserves herself for the people she really cares about’ and how, according to Knightley herself, she 'never’ attends events 'as myself, Never No! I’d rather keep some protection up.’

Like Crazy: The Film Is Youthful In The Best Of Ways.

Like Crazy is a 2011 American romantic drama film directed by Drake Doremus and starring Anton Yelchin, Felicity Jones, Jennifer Lawrence and Alex Kingston. In an interview with The Telegraph, Jones stated that the script was fully improvised and that this should be readily apparent to any viewer.

Yelchin and Jones play Jacob and Anna respectively, college students in Los Angeles who become a couple. Anna is a British exchange student who, having fallen in love with Jacob, a design student, spends the summer with him, overstaying her student visa after it had expired on graduation. She returns home to London for a family obligation, and when she flies back to Los Angeles as a tourist she is detained, denied entry, turned away, and sent back to England by Los Angeles airport immigration officials, throwing the couple into an awkward and strained long-distance relationship.Felicity Jones and Anton Yelchin play Anna and Jacob in the poignant love story ‘Like Crazy.’ Directed and co-written (with Ben York Jones) by 20-something Drake Doremus, the film is youthful in the best of ways.

Anna is banned from entering the United States for this prior violation of having overstayed her original visa. The deep love of the couple is strained by the distance and frustration of not being able to see each other except when Jacob can make the time away from his successful design business in Los Angeles to visit Anna in England. Anna's family in England hires an immigration lawyer to try to get the ban lifted and allow Anna to return to Jacob in the United States.[5] Anna's father suggests that marrying may help to get the ban lifted. Upon Jacob's return to the US, and after an undisclosed time, he begins a relationship with someone else, a work colleague. Anna continues to struggle with her feelings for Jacob and eventually phones him up suggesting that they should marry, that no other relationships that they experience are like the one they have together.

Jacob returns to the UK once again and marries Anna in a small court ceremony with her parents as witness. They are told to wait 6 months before appealing the ban on Anna's visa again, and Jacob returns to the UK after these 6 months for the appeal, which is again unsuccessful and the relationship of Anna and Jacob is compromised. They again begin relationships with other people, but Anna and Jacob still feel a profound connection with each other. Anna gets promoted at her work to a position that she is really happy about. Anna's boyfriend at the time, Simon, proposes to her.Shortly after, Anna finds out from her lawyer that her ban from the United States has finally been lifted. She gives up her job, her current boyfriend and her apartment and she returns to Los Angeles to Jacob. Jacob greets Anna at the airport with flowers and the two have the reconciliation that they didn't have after Anna was first banned, although it seems to lack the passion you see earlier in their relationship.Reunited and without any legal impediments to being together, Anna and Jacob are shown to be starting a life together. The film closes with the two in the shower reminiscing their initial courtship. They appear somewhat strained likely because their journey together has had many ups and downs. The movie ends with both characters reflecting back on a cascade of clips of their initial encounters together. The future of Jacob and Anna's relationship is unclear.

A love story is both a physical and emotional tale, one that can be deeply personal and heartbreaking for an audience to experience. Director Drake Doremus' film Like Crazy beautifully illustrates how your first real love is as thrilling and blissful as it is devastating. When a British college student (Felicity Jones) falls for her American classmate (Anton Yelchin) they embark on a passionate and life-changing journey only to be separated when she violates the terms of her visa. Like Crazy explores how a couple faces the real challenges of being together and of being apart.

The characters seem to be discovering their emotions right in front of our eyes, and this is not simply because the scenes came out of improvisations. It's because the actors understand the essential seriousness of what they are attempting, which is nothing less than a delicate, layer-by-layer rendering of mirth and passion and heartbreak. Yelchin and Jones want to do justice to these emotions because so much is at stake in getting them right.

Do Not Miss The Favorite Fashion Movie Heathers

If there’s one thing that fashionable '80s cult film Heathers can teach you, its that the American high school can be a treacherous place.Set in the Midwest at Westerberg High School, the film has all the typical trappings of state-required education, but with a murderous twist.

Heathers centers around a typical popular mean-girl clique: a croquet-loving foursome that includes queen bee Heather Chandler (Kim Walker), Heather Duke (Shannen Doherty), Heather McNamara (Lissane Falk), and popularity-rebel Veronica Sawyer (played by the amazing Winona Ryder).While the three Heathers do their best to alienate their less-popular classmates, Veronica actually has a conscience, and doesn’t see the value in this soul-crushing behavior.Meanwhile, cute loner Jason “J.D.” Dean (Christian Slater) enrolls in their high school and stokes the interest of Veronica. She soon learns that J.D.’s tough exterior isn’t an act – he pretty much hates everyone, and is willing to take action to eliminate the draining existence of his classmates. Heathers is dark, morbid, and sometimes hilariously surreal. While extreme, it does has some true insight on the angst-ridden plight of the American teenager. The 1988 cult classic is also chock full of acid-tongued, now-iconic quotes like “What’s your damage?”

Heathers is not merely a vastly underappreciated comedy, it’s also a highly fashionable film.These popular girls have no problem expressing themselves through clothing, accessories, and general appearance; styling is important, and this clique has perfected the practice.Their hair is carefree – wavy and cool, not overdone – with Heather Chandler and Heather McNamara letting their mess of curls rule.The clique typically sports coordinating '80s popular girl looks – oversized patchworked or vibrantly colored blazers with linebacker shoulder pads – but they fill out their wardrobes with welcome individual flourishes. Veronica favors blue tights and a whole mess of brooches, typically with one sweetly placed at the top of her button-up shirts. Heather Chandler has her signature enormous red scrunchie, the ultimate symbol of her status as popular girl queen bee.

The Heathers, though more homogenous, also have some great looks. Think lacy socks with plaid flats, floor-length pink brocade robes – which welcomed Heather Chandler to her untimely end – and body-con mourning dresses. Even the other students and faculty at Westerberg High have great style. J.D. is the personification of psychotic cool, with his signature small, gold hoop earring in one ear, and foreboding long black trench.

Ms. Fleming, the suicide-capitalizer, favors rad animal-themed accessories and wears a belted golden-rod scarf as a sash. Be sure to peep the whale-print button-down on the yearbook nerd and the “Big Fun” slogan tee on other students – which is ridiculously easy to DIY, and even the gratuitously teased Martha “Dumptruck” Dunnstock was in on the trend.

Whatever your need – cocktail party-approved quoteables or fashion inspiration – the girls of Heathers are there for you.

"The Ides Of March" Is Insightful As A Night Spent Watching Film

The Ides of March was adapted from the play “Farragut North” by Beau Willimon, which was itself loosely based on the 2004 Democratic primary of Governor Howard Dean. If there is one thing to be said about this film adaptation of Willimon’s play, it’s that its Broadway origins are glaringly apparent – a fact that will delight some viewers, but will ultimately leave others yawning in their seats.

The story follows Stephen Myers (Ryan Gosling), an idealistic young campaign staffer working on the presidential campaign of Governor Mike Morris (George Clooney), a man whose promises of real change and clean politics have energized many of the young staffers who work for and support him. The film follows Team Morris’ hard fight to win the pivotal state of Ohio in the Democratic primary. As Myers floats along in his euphoric state of political idealism – believing that he is truly in the corner of a “good” candidate – he learns hard lessons about the reality of American politics, and ultimately comes to recognize it for the corruptive, immoral dogfight it truly is.

Clooney directed Ides of March as well as starring in it, and while he’s far from being a technical wizard, the actor has proven himself to be competent at the helm (see: Confessions of a Dangerous Mind). Here, Clooney wisely surrounds himself with more technically proficient talent like cinematographer Phedon Papamichael (Walk the Line, Pursuit of Happyness, W., 3:10 to Yuma), and in that sense, The Ides of March is a good-looking and well-crafted film. Unfortunately, while the visual and technical components are strong, the script Clooney co-wrote with his Good Night, and Good Luck collaborator Grant Heslov is not as successful in translating a dialogue-heavy stage play into an exciting movie experience.

Snappy banter and (somewhat) interesting plot and character developments are definitely the strong points of The Ides of March script. The downside is that this movie still feels very much like a stage play (i.e., static scenes of people sitting around talking) and the subject matter is now so dated that the movie, as a whole, comes off as a feature-length report on old news. Notions like ‘politics is a dirty game’ or ‘there are no noble politicians’ or ‘the game never changes’ are by now so ingrained in our cynical cultural zeitgeist, that watching Gosling’s character develop from a naive idealist into a cynical political player feels about as revelatory as a headline about another political scandal (read: not at all).

What keeps the film going are the performances of the ensemble cast. While Gosling’s character feels somewhat outdated, the actor plays him earnestly as a man whose passion and conviction ultimately get swallowed by his cunning and ambition. Clooney appears only briefly throughout the film, but conveys the gray shades of a seasoned politician well – as does Jeffrey Wright in the role of a senator playing both sides for the sake of his own political advancement. Evan Rachel Wood serves well as the pretty little intern who becomes fodder for the dirty game, Max Minghella is fine playing a well-meaning but oblivious aid, and Marissa Tomei is strong in the few scenes she has, playing a brass-balled (and ultimately prophetic) reporter who tries to cut through all the spin to get at the so-called “truth.”

The strongest two figures in the ensemble, though, are undoubtedly Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti, who play rival campaign managers. On his own, each actor nails the task of delivering some of the heavier monologues about the nature of politics, while simultaneously keeping those scenes dynamic and interesting. When (briefly) onscreen together, Hoffman and Giamatti have an exciting chemistry that is totally contained within a few exchanged glances or brief quips. Their roles also feel like the most authentic and relevant, since their characters are the ones who provide the clearest and most truthful insight into what the political process is all about.

On the subject of politics: there are many people who will have trouble separating the subject matter of this film from George Clooney’s real life political dogma – but they needn’t be concerned that this is some sort of ‘pro-left, anti-right’ propaganda film. If anything, Ides of March takes a hard, cynical jab at the Democratic party, showcasing the same back-room dealings and moral lapses that the Republican party is often accused of. The point the film makes is very clear: modern politics (as a whole) is a dirty game, and anyone thinking they can come in and change it into something uncompromised, earnest and noble will never survive long enough in the race to do so. It’s kind of a dark outlook to have – but one that probably rings true for many Americans today.

In the end, The Ides of March is a movie that will likely only appease the most die-hard political pundits in the crowd. For most everyone else, an hour and a half watching people discuss the nature of modern American politics will probably be as fun and insightful as a night spent watching C-SPAN.