Months of Meryl: The Giver (2014)
Thursday, November 22, 2018 at 5:00PM John and Matthew are watching every single live-action film starring Meryl Streep.
#47 —The Chief Elder, leader of a dystopian society.
MATTHEW: In Lois Lowry’s 1993 young adult novel The Giver, a society recovering from near-ruination divides its people into communities and, in the process, mistakes sameness for equality. In the 2014 film adaptation of Lowry’s Newbery Medal-winning classic, a production team looking to make a quick buck on the under-18 set mistakes glossy superficiality for storytelling simplicity and basic filmmaking competency. Despite its undeniable following and long-held status as a formative literary staple for American adolescents, The Giver was somehow omitted from my middle school reading list. I’m positive Lowry’s tale has its merits, but whatever those may be, they are almost entirely undetectable in this version from journeyman director Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Quiet American).
Noyce’s iteration centers around Jonas (Australian twink Brenton Thwaites), a 16-year-old who we are told possesses uncommon brilliance and “a capacity to see beyond,” assets that earn him the title of his community’s Receiver of Memory...