Gifted is a 2017 film starring Mckenna Grace as a math genius. She’s a first grader and has been raised by her uncle. When her grandmother realizes little Mary is a math prodigy, she shows up and wants custody. The fight is on.
Gifted is carefully designed to tug at your heartstrings. But that’s okay because it’s a sweet movie about love and family and what it means to be a kid. Mary’s mother, also a math genius, committed suicide and left her infant in the care of her brother Frank (Chris Evans).
Frank took Mary to Florida. He encouraged and supported her math abilities, but he also wanted her to have a normal childhood and friends.
With additional love from their close neighbor Roberta (Octavia Spencer), Mary was doing just fine. Frank pushed her into public school. Her first grade teacher Bonnie (Jenny Slate) needed only about 6 seconds to recognize that Mary was gifted.
About that time the long-absent grandmother Evelyn (Lindsay Duncan) showed up. Evelyn had driven her own daughter, Mary’s mother, relentlessly to focus on math and nothing else. She wanted to take Mary away from Frank and put her through the same rigorous mathematics tutoring and work. Since Frank had promised his sister to give Mary a normal childhood, a fight ensued.
The film jumped quickly through the legal fight for custody of Mary. A compromise was reached, but not everyone played fair in the deal. A one-eyed cat gave away the secret.
The tearjerker ending was well designed to reward your emotions for sticking with the movie.
This wasn’t Mckenna Grace‘s first film. She knew her way around a movie set by age 6. Even missing her two front teeth in this one, her acting talent shone. I’ve been impressed by some of the work she’s done since then, but was doubly impressed by her natural talent in front of a camera in this movie.
You can watch Gifted on Prime Video or Tubi.
Discover more from Old Ain't Dead
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.