Fans of Lois Lowry‘s “The Giver” are loathe to lump it into the YA genre, so they probably won’t like this much: this new trailer for the movie feels, for better or worse, like a cross between “The Truman Show” and “The Matrix.” There, we said it. However, neither of those movies has Jeff Bridges or Meryl Streep so that certainly niggles at our curiosity at what looks like yet another dystopian tale where people who have the wool pulled over their eyes finally see the truth. Here’s the official synopsis:
The haunting story of THE GIVER centers on Jonas, who lives in a seemingly ideal, if colorless, world of conformity and contentment. Not until he is given his life assignment as the Receiver of Memory does he begin to understand the dark, complex secrets behind his fragile community. The film is based on Lois Lowry’s beloved young adult novel of the same name, which was the winner the 1994 Newbery Medal and has sold over 10 million copies worldwide.
Anyway, this new trailer gives a pretty good look at the movie, one that boasts an admittedly nifty black-and-white to color shift. But at its core it’s another tale of breaking with convention and following your own feelings and whatnot. And we gotta say, we sorta forgot Katie Holmes, Taylor Swift (really) and Alexander Skarsgard were in this too.
“The Giver” opens August 15th. Trailer and featurette below along with new images and posters
