There are many amazing things about Never Let Me Go. Among them is the fact that when broken into its individual themes, nothing about it is really new. Off the top of my head, I can recognize parts of this film from 1984, Moon, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Blade Runner, The Island and Dollhouse. Yet the truly amazing thing is that from all these familiar parts, Mark Romanek and co. have crafted something pure, beautiful and entirely unique.

Never Let Me Go takes place in an alternate history in which human cloning was perfected in the 1950s and immediately used to grow organ donors. Thus, we have boarding schools such as Hailsham, built to keep cloned children safe and healthy until they’re old enough to start making “donations.” This is where we meet Kathy, Tommy and Ruth, three Hailsham students who befriend each other and eventually make a fragile love triangle. Several years later, they hear rumors about deferments; postponed donations for students who can somehow prove that they love each other.

There’s a lot going on in this film. These characters deal with mortality, repentance, sexuality, who made them, what to do with their lives and the nature of souls. The narrative is structured in such a way that all of these existential themes and many more are inextricably tied to each other. Contemplating the nature of love and how to prove it, for example, leads to the question of whether or not our protagonists have souls. Thus, we have an uncommonly potent combination of quality and quantity, in which a wide spectrum of themes are addressed and all in great depth. Genius.

Ruth, played by Keira Knightley, is by far the most pessimistic of the bunch. Everything about her character revolves around spite for how and why she was created, not to mention her very short life expectancy. She’s destructive to herself and everyone around her, though it’s hard not to sympathize because who can blame her?

Tommy, played by Andrew Garfield, is the optimist of the group. He literally stakes his life on his two friends and his love for them. He believes in love and art, as well as their abilities to prolong and enrich his life, if not save it outright. After all, it’s not like he has anything else.

Kathy, played by Carey Mulligan, is probably the toughest nut to crack. She’s in the awkward position of third wheel, on the outside of the Ruth/Tommy relationship. Indeed, it seems like she’s stuck on the periphery of everything through much of the story. Her fellow donors try to imitate the television and pretend that they understand the outside world, but Kathy doesn’t: She’s not willing to fake her way through life in any way, shape or form. There’s also a scene in which Kathy flips through a porno mag she found. The movie makes a big deal out of this scene and rightly so, for my jaw hit the floor when we finally learn why Kathy was looking at pictures of naked women (I’ll only say that it’s not because she’s a lesbian. She isn’t). That was one amazing reveal.

Over the course of the movie, it gradually became obvious to me that Kathy was focused much more on her life than on her death. She’s simply trying to figure everything out and how to make the best of what she has.

We follow these characters through their whole lives over the course of the movie. The entire first act follows Kathy, Tommy and Ruth as kids (played by Izzy Meikle-Small, Charlie Rowe and Ella Purnell, respectively) and they’re amazing to watch. Their interactions between themselves and with other kids are done with great maturity, sincerity and heart. I’ve never seen anything like it save for Let the Right One In, and I mean that as very high praise indeed.

There’s an amazing amount of subtlety in this first act. So much of the information we need about these kids and their lifestyle is told through implications and emotions. For example, the Hailsham headmistress makes an announcement early on that three cigarette butts were found on campus. Were they really left by Hailsham students or was the headmistress lying so she could reinforce the point that these kids had to stay in top shape?

There is absolutely no bad or awkward exposition in this movie. When a teacher finally explains at the end of the first act what will happen to these kids, it’s not an exposition dump: It’s a last minute call to attention. She might as well have been screaming “WAKE UP!!!” at the top of her lungs. The manner of this announcement and its aftermath are every bit as relevant as the announcement itself.

Visually, the movie is astonishing. Handheld cameras are used occasionally for added intimacy. Every single frame of this movie is expertly lit and beautifully shot. Equally beautiful is the score, which is wonderfully forlorn. There’s a particular four-note theme on the strings which reminded me strongly of Bear McCreary’s work, and any music that reminds me of McCreary is doing at least one thing right.

Every single acting performance is amazing, though I do wish that Carey Mulligan could take a lighter role someday. The music is amazing, the visuals are great and the writing is a six-course meal for thought. If this movie isn’t Mark Romanek’s ticket to the A-list, it oughta be.

I can’t recommend Never Let Me Go enough. This is a life-affirming movie with brains and heart in abundance. It will stay in the mind of everyone who sees it, guaranteed.