The Giver: Dull and Lacklustre

Verdict: ** Green. The vivid colour of the lone tree on a snow covered, dry landscape. Greyish blue. The limpid colour of pretty Fiona’s (Odeya Rush) eyes. Auburn. The burning colour of her hair. Red. The bright colour of a juicy, fresh apple. These are the colours of life as seen by Jonas (Brenton Thwaites), in the sci-fi film “The Giver’ adapted from a novel by Lois Lowry. These are also the colours seen on the screen, only in slow flashes. The rest of the time we see mostly everything in black and white or a dull muted grey. Just the way Jonas and all his fellow residents see and live. Teenager Jonas has been living a ‘dead’ life all along. He has grown up literally in a colourless environment where there is no privacy. Everyone follows rules and timetables announced over intercoms. This is a Community, a so-called utopia of equals built carefully by the long silver haired and mildly wrinkled Chief Elder (Meryl Streep). Every year, Streep makes a grand hologram appearance—a gigantic frame alluding to her God like omnipresence—during a ceremony. This is a community where there is constant and unnatural happiness prevailing at all times amongst equals. Everything is under control here, even the climate. A mere mention of ‘love’, draws a quick rebuke: from Jonas’s mother (Katie Holmes). “Precision of language, please,” is a command. Love is a dirty word here. It brings pain and suffering and above all, loss. The only way to escape all negativity and devastation brought about by any mishaps or wars is to inject the community residents with a drug that doesn’t allow them to feel anything deep. This year, Hologram Streep selects young Jonas to be a ‘Receiver’ of memories. He is the chosen one, in order to ‘store’ the memories within himself. An older community resident, the “Giver’ (Jeff Bridges) transmits memories over lifetimes to Jonas. The never seen colours and never felt experiences come flooding to Jonas’s brain. The cold, exuberance of flying down a snowy slope on a sled. The sweet sound of a newborn baby’s cry. The warmth of bright sunshine. The melodius notes of a piano. The joy de vivre of the body moving to music. ”It’s called dance”, Jonas tells his little sister as he shows her some moves without music. Jonas has now tasted blood. He wants to share it with his childhood friend, Fiona. There is a nice metaphorical moment, when he gives her an apple (proverbially evocative) to make her ‘feel’. By sharing what he has seen, Jonas has broken the rules. It is only at this point that the lackluster and repetitive script gets mildly interesting. A debate over loss between Streep and the ‘giver’ ensues. However, the story ends quickly without much conflict or tension. Considering Brenton Thwaites is 25,he displays a teenager’s innocence and anguish remarkably well. Both Meryl Streep and Jeff Bridges slip into their parts with ease but can barely hold a skinny plot together. ‘The Giver’ ends up being a dull and lackluster story on the shades of life. (The writer tries to make peace with her own filmmaking nightmares, of being a scriptwriter, actor and assisting film icons by moonlighting as a film journalist.http://gayatrigauri.blogspot.in)