Driven by its emotional narrative, Gifted is a family drama that keeps the audience engaged throughout its runtime, balanced with humour, warmth and grief. A genuine and sincere feel-good piece that provides a different viewpoint for parents to reflect on, considering the paper-chase culture we blindly follow in this century.
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Chris Evans shed his shield (and muscles) for the role as Frank, uncle to his seven-year-old niece Mary (Mckenna Grace) who, like her mother, is a child prodigy who can easily solve complex mathematics equations at a young age.
Frank takes on the role as a father figure to the young Mary since the loss of his sister Diane. Grace is no ordinary child, but is forced to learn ‘1+1’ with her first-grade classmates because Frank wants to ensure that she grows up ‘normal’, and not to follow the footsteps of his sister who struggled with her genius math brain.
With Mary’s teacher, Bonnie’s (Jenny Slate) recommendation, Mary is offered a scholarship to attend a school for gifted children, but Frank turns it down for the fear that she’ll grow up to meet her tragic fate as her mother. But her grandmother (Lindsay Duncan) is adamant in grooming Mary to become the world’s next brilliant mathematician, and that, to her comes with endless studying and continuous drilling of math equations - even if it costs a relationship with Frank.
We don’t get see much of a softer side from Evans since he became Captain America in the Marvel films, and so this film presents the emotional range from Evans that proves what the great actor he actually is.
But the true breakout star is 10-year-old Grace, who effortlessly pulls off as the math prodigy, scribbling arithmetical symbols that normal human being would never come across in their lives. The combination of her brass attitude spouting vocabulary-rich words and her child-like innocence makes her an adorable star of the film. She is the central character of the film and that’s a big responsibility for a child, but Mary is extremely endearing that you can’t help but root for her. In addition to Grace, the supporting females are a strong cast to boot: Octavia Spencer as Roberta, their neighbour who doubles up as the babysitter and Mary’s best friend; teacher Bonnie who is also the love interest of Frank; and the demanding grandma played by Lindsay Duncan.
Director Marc Webb gives us beautiful landscape shots, one where Frank and Mary discuss the existentialism of human beings, their silhouettes framed gracefully against a sunset on the beach as Mary climbs all over Frank as though he’s a one-stop playground. Sunset shots are no stranger to Webb’s films - notably seen in 500 Days of Summer and The Amazing Spider-Man.
Driven by its emotional narrative, Gifted is a family drama that keeps the audience engaged throughout its runtime, balanced with humour, warmth and grief. A genuine and sincere feel-good piece that provides a different viewpoint for parents to reflect on, considering the paper-chase culture we blindly follow in this century.
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