The Gift

It just so happens that next year's Directors Guild of America Awards will introduce a new Award for First-Time Feature Film directors. Unless there's something I don't know about, then that's a nice gift waiting for Joel Edgerton, who transitions to auteur in The Gift.

Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn Callum (Rebecca Hall) have moved to Los Angeles for Simon's new office job. They're immediately spotted by Gordon Moseley (Edgerton), Simon's former classmate. Gordon is awfully insistent about wanting to be friends with the Callums. So much so that he drops off some innocuous gifts at their front door.

What's the problem? Simon remembers Gordon as the school "weirdo." So each gift and unannounced visit is creepy. When Simon tells Gordon to scram, his behavior goes from implied creepy to unambiguously disturbing. Along the way, some nasty secrets from Simon's past threaten to destroy his future.

The screenplay, also by Edgerton, must also be commended. It leaves you on edge from the moment the gifts start appearing. The audience will surely be invested as more of the story reveals itself. Sometimes, it twists its audience's expectations spectacularly. Its final twist is ambiguous, but given its subversiveness, my interpretation is the "positive" one.

The story's ingenuity extends to Simon. As played by Bateman, Simon is a nice guy with a sometimes crass sense of humor. But Simon's niceness cracks when Gordon's backstory is revealed. But we feel some pity when Gordon's final plan plays out. A lot of it was his fault, but still...

Back to the director/star himself. Edgerton makes for a subdued villain. He's so subdued that he seems legitimately nice at first. He never loses his cool unlike Alex in Fatal Attraction, one of the film's influences. He's content with letting the rest of the world lose their cool with his trolling. We also feel bad about his backstory, unless the "negative" interpretation was real.

The Gift is not for anyone who stresses out easily. It keeps your mind racing throughout the story, but only a few moments are loud jump scares. For everyone willing to brave it, they're sure to experience one of the most unique thrillers of any century. It's sure to keep the audience interested in whatever Joel Edgerton might direct next.