The Giver
Genre: Drama / Sci-Fi
Director: Lana Wachowski
Writer: Alex Conn
Cast:
Timothee Chalamet .... Jonas
Morgan Freeman .... The Giver
Kaitlyn Dever .... Fiona
Stanley Tucci .... Elder McKinney
Billy Crudup .... Jonas' Father
Amanda Peet .... Jonas' Mother
Ross Lynch .... Asher
Plot: The film opens with Jonas (Timothee Chalamet) getting ready for his school graduation. In this world everyone sees in black and white. His mother says it’s so exciting cause they’re going to pick careers. We then meet Jonas’s friends Asher (Ross Lynch) and Fiona (Kaitlyn Dever). We also hear on the loudspeaker a reminder to take your pills. Before he goes to visit his father who works with the children before they go to the couples who apply for them. There is one child named Gabriel who is scheduled for release if there is no family who applies for him. At the graduation where the Elders pick jobs for the graduating class. Fiona gets picked to work with old people at the House of The Old. Asher gets the job as security guard and Jonas gets the ultimate job as the next in line to be The Giver who is the keeper of memories. Jonas, his mother (Amanda Peet) and father (Billy Crudup) have dinner at their “dwelling” and everyone is proud of Jonas for his accomplishment as the next in line to be The Giver.
Jonas goes to sleep and in his dream he sees Fiona working her shift at The House of The Old and he sees her breasts and he grabs them and they both make out and then they have sex. He wakes up shocked and tells his mom what he saw and she without asking gives him this pill which stops those stirrings from happening again.
Jonas goes to his first session with The Giver (Morgan Freeman). The Giver welcomes him with a cup of tea. He is incredibly old and he explains the job of The Giver is to keep the bad memories and the pain from the citizens. He also says to not take the pill as it makes it harder for it to work and will block the memories. Tomorrow he will give the memories to him. He also gives a note to give to his parents.
The next day he forgets his pill and gives his mother the note and he runs to The Givers office and The Giver tells him to come here and Jonas comes and The Giver puts his hand on Jonas and Jonas experiences some euphoria like concerts and movies and music and art and parties but then slowly he experiences also memories of war and mass shootings and the like. He tells Asher and Fiona about this and they are shocked they don’t know how this works and then he sees Elder McKinney (Stanley Tucci) who brings him into his office and tells him not to. He then goes back to the Givers office and says that he is experiencing a feeling and it is nice and The Giver says it is a feeling called love which is a feeling that is obsolete and he rides his bike away.
Jonas asks his mother and father whether they love him and they say they take pride in his accomplishments. They then yell at him and say precision of language. He goes into his room and masturbates about Fiona.
Jonas tells Fiona to forget her medication and to spit it out after she gets it in the bathroom and says it will feel great. She forgets her medication the next morning and Jonas and Fiona both hide and have sex in the bushes.
Jonas then goes to his last session with The Giver and they talk about what release really is. Jonas then sees it on television and sees his father euthanizing a child and then tells Fiona that they are going to escape the town and that this entire world is messed up. They both pick up Gabriel but are spotted by Jonas’s father and they run away. He transmits feelings of exhaustion to Gabriel to make him sleep all day. All of his friends are asked to help the government find Jonas but all of them say they haven’t seen him. Elder McKinney and Jonas’s father and mother put planes out and Jonas reaches the end of the community and breaks his legs and eventually dies but right before tells Fiona to go without him. Fiona and Gabriel run away safely.
Director: Lana Wachowski
Writer: Alex Conn
Cast:
Timothee Chalamet .... Jonas
Morgan Freeman .... The Giver
Kaitlyn Dever .... Fiona
Stanley Tucci .... Elder McKinney
Billy Crudup .... Jonas' Father
Amanda Peet .... Jonas' Mother
Ross Lynch .... Asher
Plot: The film opens with Jonas (Timothee Chalamet) getting ready for his school graduation. In this world everyone sees in black and white. His mother says it’s so exciting cause they’re going to pick careers. We then meet Jonas’s friends Asher (Ross Lynch) and Fiona (Kaitlyn Dever). We also hear on the loudspeaker a reminder to take your pills. Before he goes to visit his father who works with the children before they go to the couples who apply for them. There is one child named Gabriel who is scheduled for release if there is no family who applies for him. At the graduation where the Elders pick jobs for the graduating class. Fiona gets picked to work with old people at the House of The Old. Asher gets the job as security guard and Jonas gets the ultimate job as the next in line to be The Giver who is the keeper of memories. Jonas, his mother (Amanda Peet) and father (Billy Crudup) have dinner at their “dwelling” and everyone is proud of Jonas for his accomplishment as the next in line to be The Giver.
Jonas goes to sleep and in his dream he sees Fiona working her shift at The House of The Old and he sees her breasts and he grabs them and they both make out and then they have sex. He wakes up shocked and tells his mom what he saw and she without asking gives him this pill which stops those stirrings from happening again.
Jonas goes to his first session with The Giver (Morgan Freeman). The Giver welcomes him with a cup of tea. He is incredibly old and he explains the job of The Giver is to keep the bad memories and the pain from the citizens. He also says to not take the pill as it makes it harder for it to work and will block the memories. Tomorrow he will give the memories to him. He also gives a note to give to his parents.
The next day he forgets his pill and gives his mother the note and he runs to The Givers office and The Giver tells him to come here and Jonas comes and The Giver puts his hand on Jonas and Jonas experiences some euphoria like concerts and movies and music and art and parties but then slowly he experiences also memories of war and mass shootings and the like. He tells Asher and Fiona about this and they are shocked they don’t know how this works and then he sees Elder McKinney (Stanley Tucci) who brings him into his office and tells him not to. He then goes back to the Givers office and says that he is experiencing a feeling and it is nice and The Giver says it is a feeling called love which is a feeling that is obsolete and he rides his bike away.
Jonas asks his mother and father whether they love him and they say they take pride in his accomplishments. They then yell at him and say precision of language. He goes into his room and masturbates about Fiona.
Jonas tells Fiona to forget her medication and to spit it out after she gets it in the bathroom and says it will feel great. She forgets her medication the next morning and Jonas and Fiona both hide and have sex in the bushes.
Jonas then goes to his last session with The Giver and they talk about what release really is. Jonas then sees it on television and sees his father euthanizing a child and then tells Fiona that they are going to escape the town and that this entire world is messed up. They both pick up Gabriel but are spotted by Jonas’s father and they run away. He transmits feelings of exhaustion to Gabriel to make him sleep all day. All of his friends are asked to help the government find Jonas but all of them say they haven’t seen him. Elder McKinney and Jonas’s father and mother put planes out and Jonas reaches the end of the community and breaks his legs and eventually dies but right before tells Fiona to go without him. Fiona and Gabriel run away safely.
BOX OFFICE
Budget: $36,000,000
Domestic Box Office: $27,679,003
Foreign Box Office: $14,349,777
Total Profit: -$29,969,879
Domestic Box Office: $27,679,003
Foreign Box Office: $14,349,777
Total Profit: -$29,969,879
REVIEWS
"This adaptation from Alex Conn and half of the Wachowskis is flawed, but not necessarily bad. Chalamet was way too old for the lead role, but the casting of the supporting roles is where the film really is strong. Freeman, Tucci and Crudup all nail their roles with conviction. They're not always given a ton to do, but they make each of their scenes stronger (and the scenes without any of them definitely are more of a chore to watch). From a story standpoint, I still struggle to see why the filmmakers insisted on an R-Rating for the film, but it is definitely better written than most of Conn's other adaptations." - Chrissy Lane, Manhattan Mercury
"Frustrating more than anything. For a dystopian story, the film felt too short and the world too under-explained for me to fully engage. It’s a shame that Chalamet and Freeman are given so few scenes together as this could’ve been a great late-career showcase for the latter if there was more meat on the bone." - George Overmyer, Baltimore Magazine
"Morgan Freeman is a commanding presence as the elderly Giver, but he is woefully underused in the film while Chalamet feels like he has outgrown roles like these over the past couple of years. It's about as bad/disappointing as that other The Giver movie, just in different ways. Maybe Lois Lawry's story just doesn't work as a movie."- Dave Manning, Ridgefield Press
Rated R for sexuality/nudity
Filming Locations: