THE GIFT: That Keeps on Giving

Director: Joel Edgerton
Writer: Joel Edgerton
Cast: Rebecca Hall, Jason Bateman, Joel Edgerton
Runtime: 108 mins.
2015

The Gift is an incredibly functional movie, accomplishing everything it set out to accomplish by using every tool at its disposal. Edgerton's directorial debut sees him attempting the triple crown--writing, directing, starring--and he nails each of those three roles. The Gift is lean and mean, with no wasted moment. So I can't say it's the movie's fault that it doesn't contain the spark necessary to vault into the pantheon of Instant Classic the way Nightcrawler did for me last year. I'm not the first to make that comparison, but it's a fruitful one; Nightcrawler may be messier than The Gift, but that movie's frequent high points court transcendence. The Gift is just more subdued, which is a choice rather than a flaw.

Perhaps a more generous comparison to establish is that The Gift is a far more subtle version of Fatal Attraction. The movie follows a loving couple who have just moved to a gorgeous hillside home in California. While out and about they encounter one of the husband's childhood acquaintances, Gordo (Joel Edgerton). Simon (Jason Bateman) doesn't recognize him right away, but later informs his wife Robyn (Rebecca Hall) that Gordo was something of a weirdo back in school. Thus it's no surprise that Simon rapidly becomes uneasy when Gordo keeps showing up at their house unprompted, butting in on meals and leaving gifts that eventually take a sinister turn.


And that's just the first act. Edgerton paces this film exquisitely, such that every character carries with them a load of audience assumptions, many of which are either interrogated or disintegrated over the course of the runtime. Edgerton also does a lot of work with presence through absence, a key and oft-overlooked tool of thrillers. Gordo actually spends a very small percentage of the film onscreen, but every scene without him feels like he's just around the corner, either physically or thematically. This is perhaps tied with the juggled unraveling of each character for The Gift's greatest trick.

Both tricks are made possible by a triangle of pitch perfect performances. Watching Jason Bateman work here is fascinating for two correlating reasons. The first is that Bateman is so rarely given dramatic roles, or any roles of substance. He's pegged as the perennial comedy straight man. But the second reason he's fascinating here is that his performance is excellent, even as he's essentially playing a dramatized version of his comedy persona. Alter a few scenes, add a cast of zany supporting characters, and you have Arrested Development. That's certainly an oversimplification, but in many ways Bateman's performance here is a disturbingly natural conclusion to his typical responsible sort-of-asshole role.

Edgerton is suitably creepy.

The real stand-out here is Rebecca Hall. Much of the movie is rooted in her perspective (though that gets twisted around in interesting ways), and her character is unbearably wistful. This is the sort of performance that shows everything while telling nothing. It's an incredible many-layered piece of work; we stare into Hall's expressive eyes as we keep waiting for her character's goals and motivations to be telegraphed, but we are never standing on solid ground.

Thanks to Hall's performance and Edgerton's craft, the entire film is atmospheric and borderline suffocating. The cinematography by Eduard Grau, so levelheaded and soft around the edges, perfectly emphasizes the asphyxiation of the upper class lifestyle. Everything is so shiny and perfect, to the point that Robyn's entire modern glass-walled home becomes an unsatisfying fetish-object, one that is subsequently fixated upon and tainted by Gordo. The lighting and costuming produce an incredible landscape of muted blues and blacks and greys that feel too chic to be hospitable.

The plot opens up and the themes explode in the final act, which ends up being quite interesting, though I preferred the breathlessness of the first two thirds of the film. To be honest I feel like I haven't properly parsed the ending yet since I haven't had the opportunity to discuss the movie with anyone. The ending is all knotted and I feel like a second viewing would help me process some things, though despite all my praise I'm not clamoring for another viewing anytime soon. Though I wouldn't be surprised if The Gift rewards repeat viewings with solid craft and a wealth of new insights.

3.5 / 5  BLOBS