Movie Advent Calendar #20 – Never Let Me Go

“The problem is you’ve been told and not told. That’s what I’ve seen while I’ve been here. You’ve been told but none of you really understand. So I’ve decided I’ll talk to you in a way that you will understand.”

Never Let Me Go

In 2012 I did a cinematic advent calendar of twenty four films. These were films that I really liked and have enjoyed at the cinema. This year on a similar theme I will be posting a movie advent calendar of twenty four movies.

One of the reasons I wanted to watch Never Let Me Go was that it was filmed locally in and around North Somerset. I bought it on ITunes and was impressed with the movie.

Never Let Me Go is a 2010 science fiction drama film that is based on the novel of the same name by Kazuo Ishiguro. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Andrew Garfield, and Keira Knightley as three friends who are raised in a mysterious boarding school called Hailsham. s they grow into young adults, they find that they have to come to terms with the strength of the love they feel for each other, while preparing themselves for the haunting reality that awaits them. As they grow older, they come to realise the shocking truth about their lives and the world around them.

The film is also beautifully shot, with a visual style that perfectly captures the eerie, surreal atmosphere of the story. The film is set in an alternate 1980s England with flashbacks to the 1970s.

One cafe scene was shot at The Regent Restaurant and Coffee Lounge in Weston-super-Mare.

The Regent Restaurant and Coffee Lounge in Weston-super-Mare
The Regent Restaurant and Coffee Lounge in Weston-super-Mare by James Clay

They didn’t need to even redress or change the signage for the movie, as the lounge had a 1970s vibe to it. Alas it has now closed which is a pity.  Another scene was filmed on Clevedon Pier.

Clevedon Pier
Clevedon Pier by James Clay

The film has a really strong cast. Mulligan, Garfield, and Knightley deliver powerful performances that are both moving and nuanced. They are ably supported by a talented supporting cast, including Charlotte Rampling and Sally Hawkins. The score, composed by Rachel Portman, is also haunting and evocative.

Never Let Me Go is a thought-provoking and emotionally powerful film, one which makes you think about the ethics of a society.

Get Never Let Me Go at Amazon.

Then and Now – Clevedon Pier

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart.

I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook.

I always think I should give them a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart.  The first instance of this that came to my attention was last year in May when I went to Manchester.

It only really came to my attention that I was doing this a lot, when checking the Places function on the Apple Photos Mac App that I could see I had taken the same photograph of the same thing just years apart!

I had taken some similar photographs in Clevedon, which you can see in this blog post.

Clevedon Pier is a seaside pier in the town of Clevedon, North Somerset, England on the east shore of the Severn Estuary. It was described by Sir John Betjeman, as “the most beautiful pier in England”. The pier opened in 1869 and served as an embarkation point for paddle steamer excursions for almost exactly 100 years. Two of the spans collapsed during stress testing in 1970 and demolition was proposed, but local fund raising and heritage grants allowed the pier to be dismantled for restoration and reassembled. It reopened in 1989, the pier now, once again, offers a landing stage for steamers and is a popular attraction for tourists and anglers.

I took this photograph of Clevedon Pier in May 2005.

In July 2014 I took these photographs of the pier.

Not quite the same view, but very close.

In February 2016 I took this photograph.

We were back in Clevedon in June 2017 and this was the photograph I took of the pier.

February 2018 saw me take this photograph.

In July 2019 I took another very similar photograph, this time much closer to the pier though.

Then and Now – Clevedon

This is a regular series of blogs about photographs of the same place taken years apart.

I quite like those Then and Now comparison photographs that you see in books or on the Twitter or Facebook.

I always think I should give them a go. However what I have started to notice is that I have been doing Then and Now photographs unintentionally over the years and have been taking photographs of the same thing or place from the same view or perspective years apart.  The first instance of this that came to my attention was last year in May when I went to Manchester.

It only really came to my attention that I was doing this a lot, when checking the Places function on the Apple Photos Mac App that I could see I had taken the same photograph of the same thing just years apart!

Clevedon is a small seaside town in North Somerset.

I took this photograph of Clevedon and its pier in May 2005.

Eight years late in June 2013 I took this photograph of near enough the same view.

And in May 2021 I took another very similar photograph.