Film Preview: The Giver (2014)

Poster

Poster #1

Additional posters can be found below.

Trailer Link

Release Date:

August 15, 2014

Synopsis:

From IMDb: “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.”

Poster: B (8) / D / D / B

Review: (#1-#8) These eight character posters might have been more interesting had the side the color bar went up matched up to whether the character was for or against the main character. Instead, the decisions seem almost random. They don’t match the 3/4 profile selected and they don’t match by gender. Otherwise, the designs work for what they are and it might intrigue some younger viewers, everyone else is going to wonder what the big deal is.

(#9-#11) Posters #9 and #10 aren’t dissimilar enough to matter, both employing tired design elements that bore rather than excite. The eleventh poster is much more interesting visually, using a nice blend of colors and blocking the action in the poster a bit more creatively. All of these three designs use a type of grid pattern that suggests a futuristic technology, but since there’s limited technology in the source material, this is a bit deceptive.

Trailer: B+ / B

Review: It doesn’t resemble the story I remember reading, though I begin to wonder if it’s the same book I was thinking it was. Regardless, the trailer squarely sets the film in an environment not too unlike those in The Hunger Games and Divergent, which could give it an edge at the box office.

(#2) I have this book on my shelf and I may have to dig it back out again, but I cannot recall this film at all mirroring what’s in the book. The trailer’s contents, however, should be enough to pique the interest of fans of post-apocalyptic teens-in-peril films and it certainly seems like the perfect pro-liberal feature, which should piss a number of far right ideologues off, which gives it an added bonus. To me, the filmmaking aesthetics make me think that this is a cross between Divergent and Pleasantville and that Pleasantville black-and-white/color shifting is almost enough to discourage me.

Oscar Prospects:

If the incredibly well reviewed The Hunger Games and its sequel can’t crack the Oscar code, I don’t think this film has much of a shot, but having Meryl Streep in your cast can only help.