© FAKESHEMP.NET
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Podcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Good Movie Monday
    • WTF was that?
  • MEDIA
    • Videos >
      • Photos
  • GLG
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • About

THE GIVER

15/1/2015

0 Comments

 
Picture
2014 / Director. Phillip Noyce.
Review by Glenn Cochrane.

THE GIVER surprised me. It could have so easily become a typical bland teen sci-fi and all of the publicity surrounding it suggested that that's exactly what it is. With the hysteria of THE HUNGER GAMES buzzing around Hollywood, THE GIVER was a logical opportunity to capitalize on that success. Fortunately for audiences, it has the right people behind it to keep it modest. It had been a pet project of Jeff Bridges for over 20 years and he has made several attempts to get it made in the past. Now that the cinematic climate is right for it, he has surrounded the project with a strong support network and Aussie director Phillip Noyce is at the helm. Where THE HUNGER GAMES is a dystopian science fiction story, THE GIVER is a utopian one. Set at an unknown point in the distant future the world has all but destroyed itself and civilisation has been reduced to small communities living on the fringes. A technology was designed to rid them of all memory and mandatory daily injections keep their emotional state in check. Their society is governed by strict rules and the concepts of the old world are lost... ie love, hurt, anger, hate, famine, destruction, loss etc.. The lives of the citizens are pre-determined and from conception they are assigned a family. When they come of age they are assigned their purpose (job). To keep order they select just one person to be The Receiver... a person to contain all knowledge and memories of the past so that the wrongs of the forgotten world cannot be repeated. Jeff Bridges is that man and as he gets older and nears his end-days a new, younger, receiver is chosen. Bridges becomes The Receiver and must bestow all of his knowledge upon his new protege. The concepts behind this film are familiar and similar worlds have been presented to us on film before. From classic Orwell to some of Philip K Dick's work... and there's a whole lot of similarity with Jeanne DuPrau's EMBER series (which was published after The Giver). And so what makes THE GIVER stand out is it's style and method of storytelling. Much of the film is told in black & white, which is a contrived convention but works in its favour. As the knowledge of the past is exchanged, the new receiver begins to see things differently. A wonderful performance from Bridges definitely helps solidify the film and the support cast keep it modest too with Meryl Streep playing the community leader. She truly proves herself to be one of cinema's greatest performers because despite the fact that she phones this one in, she is still amazing. Aussie actor Brenton Thwaites landed the lead in the film and he gives a respectable performance too. The pacing is fluid and the temptation for flashy action sequences is resisted. At times the story does become a little too preachy for my liking and its religious undertones irked me... but that's kind of the point of the film and their message is clear. By no means a masterpiece but THE GIVER holds its own in a cinematic sea of generic teen blockbusters and it well worth the time.



0 Comments



Leave a Reply.


    OUR WRITERS
    GLENN COCHRANE
    JARRET GAHAN
    SHAUN CRAWFORD
    ALEX MAYNARD
    CHRIS THOMPSON​
    Picture

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    September 2010
    April 2010

    RSS Feed

© 2018 FakeShemp.Net    All rights reserved.  FakeShemp.Net Illustrations by MJ Barros. 
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Podcasts
    • Podcasts
    • Good Movie Monday
    • WTF was that?
  • MEDIA
    • Videos >
      • Photos
  • GLG
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • About