I'll be honest. I don't watch a lot of indie films — mostly because A) I don't know where or how to find them, B) I hardly have the time to see the trendy movies these days, and C) most of them don't really interest me.
But that completely changed when I saw the trailer for "Gifted" way back in 2017. I watched it over the summer, and mostly forgot about it. However, I recently saw it again, and I'm here to say that my appreciation for it intensified about 20 times.
"Gifted" is a movie starring the ever so famous Chris Evans as Frank Adler, an ex-professor who is the sole caretaker of his dead sister's daughter. She goes to public school for the first time and is apparently gifted. His mother, who he hasn't spoken to in years, turns up out of the blue. A custody battle ensues.
Oh, and Octavia Spencer is in it too.
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Now, you may think I just spoiled the entire movie for you, but all of this is shown in the trailer. The movie itself is so much more than that. It shows that Evans is actually very good at emotional and dramatic scenes; considering he's a theater kid, this makes sense. He's not just the muscled man that the "Captain America" movies suggest.
Another reason I loved "Gifted" so much was because McKenna Grace, the young actress who plays the niece of Frank, was so talented and really understood her character. It made you understand what it felt like to be a seven-year-old caught between two sides of the family while just trying to be a kid who just happens to be smart enough to understand differential equations.
How cute is she?
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Lastly, the story was written in a way that wasn't too cliche but still hit you right in the heart. I won't spoil the ending, but just know I was BAWLING and didn't stop for twenty minutes. It was resolved in a way that fits with the rest of the narrative and I commend the writers for that because it can be hard.
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