DIRECTOR: Joel Edgerton LEAD
CAST: Jason
Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton
SCREENWRITER: Joel
Edgerton
PRODUCER: Jason Blum,
Joel Edgerton, Rebecca Yeldham EDITOR: Luke Doolan MUSICAL DIRECTOR:
Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
GENRE: Mystery
thriller CINEMATOGRAPHER: Edward Grau
DISTRIBUTOR: STX
Entertainment LOCATION: United States RUNNING TIME: 108 minutes
Technical assessment: 4
Moral assessment: 2
CINEMA rating: V14
MTRCB rating: R13
A nice house in an upscale Southern California neighborhood signifies
a fresh start for the marriage of former Chicago residents Simon (Jason
Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall): he for a step up in his career ladder and
she with an eye towards motherhood.
Their newfound bliss is threatened by the emergence of a character from
Simon’s past, a classmate named Gordo (Joel Edgerton) who intends to
reestablish connection with Simon who in turn hardly remembers him. Despite the subtle snub Gordo persists,
and like a welcoming neighbor leaves little gifts at the couple’s doorsteps
until he becomes a virtual part of their lives. Simon bristles at Gordo’s annoying presence but Robyn thinks
he is harmless.
The Gift is Edgerton’s project, his directorial debut for a
feature; and he also writes the screen play besides playing a major role in it. Outside of Edgerton’s skill at being a
first-time helmsman, the film’s main strength is the plot which unfolds as a
forceful real-life drama among characters who are so real they could very well
be your neighbors. The finesse
with which Edgerton dovetails the cast’s razor-sharp acting with the story’s
twists and turns proves that a low-budget, slow-burn thriller can be a compelling
stand-out in a marketplace filled with the razzle-dazzle of fantabulous
superhero movies and slick spy flicks. Edgerton shows
promise as a director, unveiling shades of the suspense master Hitchcock
through his adeptness at tweaking the audience’s expectations into
unpredictable directions.
While The Gift banks on
edge-of-the-seat elements to sustain audience interest, the director’s
propensity for startling and unnerving the viewer must not daunt us into
accepting the film as mere atmospheric cinema. The Gift flaunts
its ambiguities, and Edgerton, who takes the material seriously, nonetheless
chooses not to take a definitive stance on the moral issues in envelops. Much
as CINEMA wants to raise questions or
to make clear moral pronouncements on the movie’s conclusion, it cannot do so
without uncovering things that must be left under wraps for viewers to discover
and ruminate on. Suffice it to say
that The Gift is a powerful tool to
spur us to examine the lengths to which human beings would try to numb
themselves from the shame of their darkest sins.
