Under every seemingly placid, near-perfect future society depicted in fiction and on the big screen, there is a roiling undercurrent of dissent just waiting to break through via the medium of one disaffected youngster. In Lois Lowery’s Newberry-winning 1983 novel The Giver, the template wasestablished long before the likes of Tris and Katniss happened along. Check out the new trailer for the adaptation.
Brenton Thwaites stars as Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colourless, world of conformity and contentment. The utopia was born when humanity decided to reject strong emotions and close off their memories of pain and suffering, with leadership from the likes of Meryl Streep's Chief Elder.
Not until he's given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does Jonas begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. For upon meeting the previous Receiver, now known as The Giver (Jeff Bridges), his eyes and heart are opened to the reality of his world, one that he decides needs to change for the better – except that Streep and many of his friends disagree…
Cue revelations about how humans should embrace the chaotic side and running away from sophisticated technology trying to kill our hero, though we’re mostly excited to see Streep and Bridges go toe to toe on the big issue.
With Philip Noyce calling the shots, and Alexander Skarsgard, Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift and Odeya Rush among the cast, The Giver is out in the US on August 15, but has no set UK release yet.