20th Century Fox

Mark Romanek's 2010 dystopian drama, "Never Let Me Go," is one of those movies that barely anybody had seen when it came out, but millions have in the two and a half decades that followed. That's mainly because two of its then-young and already-brilliant main cast members — Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield — were nowhere near as famous and accomplished as they've become since, which also goes for the film's co-writer, Alex Garland, who turned big-time writer-director four years later with his masterful directorial feature debut, "Ex Machina" — one of the most terrifying movies about AI.

The other reason, I believe, is that "Never Let Me Go" — based on Kazuo Ishiguro's 2005 sci-fi novel of the same name — is a quiet, contemplative, and acutely depressing existential drama that was far from being the type of flick that naturally drew in many moviegoers on a Friday night or a lazy Sunday afternoon. So it's hardly a surprise that after being screened at several film festivals, "Never Let Me Go" only received a limited release both in the U.S. and U.K., and garnered $9.9 million at the box office worldwide against its $15 million budget. But despite its commercial failings, Romanek's feature won the heart of most critics, including the great Roger Ebert, who wrote, "This is a good movie, from a masterful novel," and gave it a perfect score. And he wasn't wrong.

20th Century Fox

"Never Let Me Go" is set in a dystopian Britain where society breeds human clones in a laboratory and raises them in special boarding schools strictly to be used as donors, and they usually die an early death. The film follows three of these Donor kids, Ruth (Knightley), Tommy (Garfield), and Kathy (Mulligan), first as small children and then as young adults in a love triangle who slowly learn the grim purpose they were created for.

Based on that premise, I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that "Never Let Me Go" is among the saddest films I've ever seen, but also one that poignantly transcends empathy, innocence, and pure love in a scenario that could never end well. In retrospect, it's easy to see why Garland was drawn to adapt this story for the big screen since its moral dilemmas, bleak milieu, and devastating outlook on life have been at the center of many of his later films (such as the near-perfect "Annihilation," for instance).

And as far as the movie's stars go, they were given multifaceted, richly-drawn, and complex characters to showcase their acting chops, which they absolutely did, that helped them further their careers in Hollywood. Overall, "Never Let Me Go" is a thoughtful, if divisive, adaptation of a stellar novel that should give viewers plenty of food for thought, as well as a vast array of deep emotions about death and human existence.