The Giver is the story of an idyllic society where there is no pain or war or excess or choice… until one citizen is chosen to be the Receiver of Memory and instead, he finds a way to expose the truth of life. The Receiver of Memory is the only person in the community who retains any knowledge of what life use to be…

Story: This is a unique story. While it has some of the same fundamentals as the movie Pleasantville, it responds to a different period of time and has a different outcome. The writers do a good job of appealing to our sense of wanting life to be easy and perfect while reminding us along the way of all the things we’d miss as a result of life being easy and perfect.

Performances: Jeff Bridges as The Giver is curmudgeonly and that’s the best way to describe him. He’s passing the role of Receiver of Memory to Jonas, played by Brenton Thwaites. Both do a fantastic job of being in the story, but, really, the story is the true star. The characters are elements in telling the story – just like the words – not the other way around. A person is not larger than life… How ‘bout that… 🙂

The emotions that get exposed; The sounds Jonas gets to experience; The sights he sees remind us of the details of life, good and bad. Imagine what it would be like if you did not know what war was or did not know what a kiss was and you saw those things for the first time? Very thoughtful…

Visual: This is a very clean looking film. Every detail is simple and uncomplicated… the cinematographers make their point. It’s mostly black and white with the use of color to provide emphasis and effect. On some level, it is quite plain, which again, makes the point. Where there’s color, there’s life…

Rating: The Giver gets an A-. It ends appropriately, but, left us kinda hanging. If this is the set up for a sequel, congratulations – bring it on. I really do want to know what happens next…

As for what happens in this installment, I have to say, I did stop and give some thought to life in general. It’s a very optimistic film… if only for a few moments, it will force you to consider optimism – even if you’re a pessimist!