The Giver
2014 · Directed by Phillip Noyce
Original language: English
- drama
- science fiction
The story
In a seemingly perfect community, without war, pain, suffering, differences or choice, a young boy is chosen to learn from an elderly man about the true pain and pleasure of the "real" world.
What it’s like
Washed-out, sterile daylight gives way to the film's most striking device: the community is rendered in grey, black and white, and the moment colour returns, as a red apple or a child's sled in snow, it lands like a held breath. Director Phillip Noyce keeps frames orderly and symmetrical, with clean pale interiors, rounded modernist architecture and long, unhurried shots of people moving in step, so the controlled surface feels faintly unsettling. Sound is restrained: a soft orchestral score swells at memory scenes, and otherwise the quiet is broken by hums, ambient machinery and gentle voices. The vibe is hushed, wistful and quietly rebellious, best suited to a slow weekday evening or a thoughtful rainy afternoon. Its pacing is measured and reflective, and the emotional register moves from polite detachment toward warmth and grief, following a young man slowly learning to feel and a withered mentor who carries the weight of what has been lost. Violence is mostly implied, with a few stark scenes of cruelty and death, including one harrowing sequence involving a child, and some tender romance and mild sensuality. For viewers who want a gentle, contemplative dystopia about memory, love and the cost of conformity, with more ache than action.
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