The Gift

Well this movie came out of nowhere. What a pleasant surprise.

The Gift is a taught thriller that sees Simon (Jason Bateman) and his wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) move back to Simon’s hometown where they are confronted by Gordo, (Joel Edgerton) an old acquaintance of Simon’s from high school. Gordo “The Weirdo” begins to weasel his way into their lives and the more embedded he becomes, the more secrets are revealed about his and Simon’s past relationship.

I honestly didn’t care to see this movie based on the trailer I saw. It seemed pretty standard and uninteresting and I had an issue with what I thought to be the big twist being revealed in the trailer (as most trailers are wont to do nowadays). I will say that that reveal, while not something that detracted from my experience, kind of made the twists and turns of the script a little less exciting only because I knew going in that the motive behind a lot of the scenes were due to Simon’s high school bullying of Gordo. I was smart enough to not let this minor infraction warp my viewing experience because I truly appreciated and was intrigued by all of the ways Edgerton, who wrote and directed as well as starred in the film, weaved his story and made everything organically, emotionally and logically work.

Outside of one on the nose and quite convenient conversation with one of Simon’s old buddies from his bullying days, the entire script was rife with amazing scenes and tiny twists here and there that truly gave weight to the entire story at hand. Everything felt earned and everything felt as it should, especially experiencing what a grown up bully would act like in his latter years.

Speaking of, Jason Bateman completely kills it in this role. I could honestly see most bullies growing up to become Simon and it’s the nuanced and layered way Bateman portrays his character that kind of made it a bit unsettling to watch. Maybe he’s grown out of his old habits, maybe they’ve evolved with him, maybe he is hiding it all underneath his charming and business minded demeanor, either way, I couldn’t quite make out whether Simon was a bad man or not, which again, is why I wish they didn’t allude to his past so much in the trailer, but I digress. Rebecca Hall is technically the main protagonist in the film, the constant flux of whether her husband is still a bully or whether Gordo is just as weird and crazy as she is led to believe plays nicely in her portrayal of Robyn. She sees what Simon draws attention to in Gordo’s personality that could make him dangerous but as the film progresses, she begins to see that maybe her husband isn’t the best judge of character and that he may be hiding something of his own. Hall does a good job of balancing her own personal issues while trying to figure out what in the hell is exactly going on between her husband and their new friend.

As for Gordo, oh man what a weirdo indeed. Edgerton, while not seeming like the best choice to play a loner outcast at first, settles into the role nicely and really pulls at heartstrings when you realize that all he wants to do is bury the hatchet with Simon and find a few friends to call his own. It’s kind of heartbreaking to see him try his hardest only to see Simon shoot him down until, that is, we see more of Gordo’s psychotic side and we begin to wonder if he’s all that he seems to be.

I thought I had this movie figured out but when the real twist hits at the end of the film, I legit whispered to myself “no fucking way they did that”. It’s a vulgar display of cruelty that when put into context, makes us wonder if two wrongs really could ever make a right and if we were rooting for the wrong person all along. In the end, no one comes out of this movie a winner and even though I wish they tacked on an epilogue of some sort (mostly because I wanted to keep watching these characters) I’m happy Edgerton had the gall to take his characters into such dark places. They are all flawed, immensely so, and all have good motivations for what they do throughout the film. It’s actually kind of odd to see real characters onscreen for once considering that two-dimensional characters populating cinemas are the norm in the industry today.

With an interesting, if somewhat heavy-handed approach to the topic of bullying at times, The Gift is truly one of the best films of the year. With stellar casting, great pacing and a script full of moral dilemmas and emotional weight, this film is definitely one that needs to be seen. Do yourself a favor though, don’t watch the trailer if you haven’t already, I’m jealous of the few who will go into this movie with no knowledge of what they are about to see.