The Gift
Go! A cunning psychological thriller.
Your past will find you.
You've done really bad things. I know you have. You know you have. And when you did that really bad thing 20 years ago, you probably thought that it would drift away and never catch up with you. How could it possibly find you anyway? The past is a measure of time! It doesn't have legs and arms and a goatee; it can't walk up to you and mess with your life. You're happy now! The past is the past. Everyone moves on. Bad stuff drifts away. All good. Right?
WRONG. The Gift sets out to disprove the theory that in life, time heals all. In Joel Edgerton's (The Great Gatsby) directorial début (a film he also wrote, produced and stars in) we meet Simon (Jason Bateman, Horrible Bosses) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall, Vicky Christina Barcelona) as they move from Chicago to LA to start a new - hopefully idyllic - life following a tragic miscarriage that had a profound effect on Robyn. As they shop for homewares to populate their new home, they bump into Gordon (Edgerton), apparently an old school friend of Simon's who he barely recognises or remembers. Gordon (known ominously at school as Gordo the Weirdo), goteed, earringed and awkward begins to seep his way into the happy couple's lives through a series of gifts and encounters of escalating significance and detriment to their relationship.
"Everything is not what it seems" is a kind of Hitchcockian cliché for this genre, but it is exactly how this type of film should feel. It is difficult to achieve, but Edgerton does it rather masterfully; spinning us more dark lies and anxious uncertainty than a UKIP convention. He ekes us disconcerting and disorientating dribbles of information that throw up constant questions, even beyond the last frame has left the screen. Dissatisfied with merely twisting our perceptions, he also treats us to a couple of shocks that will have the whole cinema leaping from their seats in unison and landing with a nervous giggle. It is all supremely well-timed, well-crafted and constantly nerve-wracking. Bateman, Hall and Edgerton are all ideal for their roles and execute the creeping pace and drama with strained subtlety. Bateman in particular comfortably clambers over his comedic reputation. His traditional ability to play funny characters with an unflinching smugness translates perfectly into this more sinister and serious role. It is an inspired casting.
While the payoff of the movie is as unnerving as the taught, twangy tension leads you to expect, there is a reservation. The ending is perhaps more distasteful than it needed to be and has a repugnant undertone that may cheapen the film for some. That said, the overall feeling from The Gift in its entirety will inevitably linger long after it finishes.
The whole film toys with our basic fears about feeling safe in our homes, escaping our wrongdoings and trusting the people closest to us. For the simplicity with which the film achieves this alone, you should go.
While the payoff of the movie is as unnerving as the taught, twangy tension leads you to expect, there is a reservation. The ending is perhaps more distasteful than it needed to be and has a repugnant undertone that may cheapen the film for some. That said, the overall feeling from The Gift in its entirety will inevitably linger long after it finishes.
The whole film toys with our basic fears about feeling safe in our homes, escaping our wrongdoings and trusting the people closest to us. For the simplicity with which the film achieves this alone, you should go.
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