The Gift

Rating : 7/10
Release Date : 21st August, 2015
Time : 100 minutes
Director, Writer: Joel Edgerton; Music : Danny Bensi, Saunder Jurriaans
Starring : Jason Bateman, Rebecca Hall, Joel Edgerton, Tim Griffin, Allison Tolman



This is a creepy little film that manages to get under your skin and provides a satisfactory climax. For almost all concerned.

High-flier Jason Bateman has just joined a new company and moved to California with his lovely wife, Rebecca Hall. They choose a lovely, open-plan house – the kind with fantastic views, more glass than anything else – and begin the process of settling in. She is a little introverted, restrained, recovering from a miscarriage the previous year, and they’re both pretty keen to put that behind them and start a family afresh. And then, in a chance encounter, they meet Jason’s school-mate, Joel, at a store. And he begins to bring them gifts, to help them settle in, and soon minor fissures in paradise start to appear…

What is fascinating about this film is that any and all eventualities are open around the halfway point. You have no idea who is doing what, why…there is just an insidious build up of tension, without you really knowing why or anything dramatic happening. Even the music score is excellent that way, being around in a very non-intrusive way. The characters are extremely well developed – again built up over time, with little incidents rather than a rush of information.It was good to see Jason in a role quite different from his normal, like Hancock, and similarly good to see Rebecca in a leading role after bit parts in movies like The Prestige, Iron Man 3 and Transcendence. But it was Joel who really stole the show - in a very quiet, understated way - a real revelation to see what he came up with in a movie written, directed (debut) and starring himself...

One of the signs of a good movie is that it makes you want to discuss it in full – reveal the plot details simply to be able to have a conversation around them. The genre normally doesn’t lend itself to watching the film again – but here it will be interesting to see it from the start, knowing what you know. It’s a good mindf**k of a film, great to watch late at night, build-up the atmosphere and wonder what the hell is going on…