REVIEW | The Gift (2015)

Australian Joel Edgerton (The Great Gatsby) is a revelation in The Gift. I’m not talking about his competence as an actor, but as a startlingly effective filmmaker.

This is Edgerton’s directorial debut, which he also wrote and starred in, and it is a testament to the actor’s storytelling gift. The Gift is a riveting, slow-burning psychological thriller that provides more than just the classic jump-scares.

Of course, a glass house with a forest view is an essential tool in a home-invasion suspense movie, and so Edgerton sets his lead characters, the fancy married couple Simon (Jason Bateman) and Robyn (Rebecca Hall), in an open-plan house, complete with a family pet— and then introduces a creepy, suspiciously friendly neighbor (himself) named Gordo.

Gordo, who claims he's Simon’s old high school classmate, with a rust-colored hair and loser vibes, is an unsettling presence in the couple’s life. The fact that he drops off these little house-warming gifts and keeps showing up at the glass house uninvited gives you the heebie-jeebies.

Jason Bateman’s Simon escalates the tension with his obnoxious air and impatience towards Gordo’s odd closeness, but it's counterbalanced by the emotionally fragile and sympathetic Robyn. It’s an entirely different Bateman here, and we still give the credit to Edgerton.

Edgerton is a keen observer of human behavior, and his debut film is simmering with underlying relationship tension, unmistakable subtleties, and some disturbing facts of the dark side of human nature.

Intelligent, unpredictable, high-tension, quietly frightening, and disturbing, The Gift is a pleasure to watch from beginning to its satisfying conclusion. It is elegantly wrapped, and you will definitely be in for a rewarding surprise.


4.5 out of 5 stars
Opens August 19, 2015 in Philippine cinemas


Cross-published in InterAksyon.com