Mark Romanek’s drama, adapted from Kazu Ishiguro’s novel, is a moody jewelbox of a film that follows the oddly circumscribed lives of three childhood friends. Tommy (Andrew Garfield), Ruth (Kiera Knightley) and Kathy (Casey Mulligan) met at a very cloistered English boarding school in the 1980s. There, they were groomed for a specific occupation that will be mildly shocking to us. (The story, while set in the near past, has both elements of futurism and retro-nostalgia.) As in all threesomes, there are emotional struggles: Kathy loves Tommy, but Ruth is the dominant character. But these adolescent pinings and joys take on new sharpness when adulthood reveals the heartbreaking, inescapable nature of their lives. It’s tricky material – a downbeat rumination on life and loss, melodrama with a dash of dystopic fantasy — but well played by these three young actors, especially Mulligan. The film, a slim 90 minutes, felt light and heavy simultaneously, like a pretty watercolor that also makes one feel quite sad. Starts Fri., Oct. 15. Manor
This article appears in Oct 14-20, 2010.
