The Gift

Director: Joel Edgerton

Starring: Joel Edgerton, Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman, Allison Tolman

Running Time: 1 hour 48 minutes 

Rating: 15

Release Date: 7th August 2015

Our actions are timeless, our behaviour echoing in the inner depths of our psyche; with our thoughts and feelings all carving deep wounds into our meaty flesh, determining our general outlook on life as we know it. While we dismiss the long forgotten experiences of our childhood as either useless or ‘character building’, we assume they remain past troubles; forgotten and forgiven. Alas, this is not always the case and for successful businessman Simon, nothing could be farther from the truth.

EXODUS star Joel Edgerton tackles this unnerving subject in his directorial debut THE GIFT; delving into the skin crawling nature of a past unsettled. With Edgerton, Rebecca Hall (THE PRESTIGE) and Jason Bateman (HORRIBLE BOSSES) making up a small but effective cast, THE GIFT see’s Simon (Bateman) and Robyn move into their new home in his home town of California in the hopes to start a family and continue living a seemingly blissful life of marriage and career success. 

As they settle into life far from their former Chicago haunts, Robyn and Simon run into Gordo (Edgerton), Simon’s former school mate and the couple soon find themselves subject of Gordo’s unnerving obsession. Tensions rise as Simon becomes more and more uncomfortable with the relationship Gordo attempts to create between the three of them and things soon turn sinister. With secrets from the past bubbling to the surface, Robyn begins to doubt her husbands intentions, both past and present, and all three of them soon find themselves in a dangerous game of drudging up the past. 

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The psychological thriller has been done to death and it’s really easy for such a genre to find itself stuck in the same state of repetition over and over again. It’s with great pleasure then that first time feature director Edgerton approaches the genre with curiosity, enthusiasm and impressive skill. While some of the most recognisable characteristics can be found with the film’s narrative, it’s much more than just a tension fueled fright-fest.

There’s a real sense of character development throughout the entire narrative and if anything, the character study takes real priority ahead of following any strict codes and conventions. This totally works in Edgerton’s favour and instead of delivering a tired, underwhelming thriller, he instead pulls off an utterly distressing and wholly disturbing observation of the human psyche; with added jump scares for fun!

With a small cast, Edgerton really proves his writing talent in creating an intimate and troubling connection between Gordo, Simon and Robyn. With an underlying issue between Gordo and Simon’s past identified subtly from the very beginning of the narrative, Edgerton spends the rest of the time taking audience’s on a journey of the full spectrum of human emotions; ranging from sheer panic and fear, to crippling disturbia. 

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As Simon’s character develops, it’s impossible to place a final opinion on his innocence. There’s no definitive facts as to how much distress he caused Gordo in his school days, with rumours and lies swarming the threesome like flies; creating real confliction for the audience. There are moments, however, where Simon’s aggressive nature seeps through the cracks of his shining smile and the true nature of his personality is blurred once again. Jason Bateman gives a brilliant performance in this role and impressively takes on the more serious role with real commitment. 

Opposite him, Rebecca Hall settles into her role as Robyn with real ease, mirroring much of the audience’s own doubts and fears. Her sweet nature see’s some light in the darkness that resides within Gordo’s vacant expression but as the tension builds, so does her fear of both Gordo and her husband. It would have been easy for Edgerton to focus much of the troubling tension on just Gordo and Simon, but he does well to ensure a third perspective is explored; leading to a more in depth study on such a hostile situation. 

Edgerton’s own performance as Gordo is truly remarkable, creating an utterly bizarre and skin-crawlingly frightening character. Rather than throwing himself into a full on nostril flaring, voice raising psychopath, Edgerton chooses instead to tap into a softly spoken, unnervingly downtrodden victim; making the final twist in the film utterly jaw dropping and cripplingly disturbing. 

With a simple concept totally transformed by a brilliant script and wonderfully creepy performances, there’s not much that thrill seekers won’t like from Edgerton’s suspense filled fright flick. It ticks all the right boxes for those who like a traditional psychological thriller but it’s the hidden depth in each of the perfectly written characters that create the real drama. Avoiding typical cliches and instead opting for a sophisticated study of the implications of our smallest of actions, Edgerton has created an all-round entertainment narrative that proves something, the past is never far behind you. 

The Gift

 

Verdict

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