The Gift

Dir: Joel Edgerton

2015

****

In 2012, actor Joel Edgerton announced that he would be acting, producing and directing a feature that he had written himself. His inspirations behind 2015’s psychological horror/thriller The Gift were; Fatal Attraction, Michael Haneke’s Cache, Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance trilogy and pretty much every film made during Alfred Hitchcock’s long career. While I didn’t quite get a vibe of Fatal Attraction, Cache, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, Oldboy or Lady Vengeance, I certainly felt a bit of Hitchcock come through. The film is packed full of creepy references which I have to say was a treat for this cinephile, everything from the hospital room being Room 237 (from Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining) to a character emptying a bottle of Heineken and replacing it with a bottle of Pabst Blue Ribbon (in reference to a scene in Blue Velvet where Dennis Hopper utters the now famous line "Heineken? F**k that s**t! Pabst Blue Ribbon!") you could see that Edgerton loves films and, when they know what they’re doing, films be people who love films are the best. Edgerton knows what he’s doing, this is a great project of his and it works really well. I think the casting of Jason Bateman was very clever and he plays his role exceptionally. Rebecca Hall also played her character exactly as it should have been and her performance is up there with many a Hitchcock leading lady’s. The location was also rather inspired, on the surface you may think it’s just a flashy house but the intended reference to the Manson murders make it all the more chilling for those in the know. The ending, which I’m not going to spoil, is dark and unnerving and exactly the sort of thing you hoped for at the beginning of the film but didn’t expect. It verges on nasty, but when you think the film over again, you realise exactly what the real gift is and then you question the levels of the suggested crimes. It’s very clever. My only criticism though is Joel Edgerton’s performance. He is edgy, I’ve been scared of him in films before but I’m just not sure he was right for the part. Maybe that’s unfair of me and I can’t think of anyone who would have been better off the top of my head but I believe his direction (and writing) were much better. It’s an incredible directional debut and a brilliantly written film. It blends together rather well and everything that doesn’t quite feel right only adds to the story’s provocative nature. I did wonder whether mistakes were made while watching it but the more I ponder them, the more I think they were intentional. Edgerton really plays with the audience but without making fun of them or wasting their time. Any frustrations felt are more than made up for with the film’s conclusion. While the film may feel familiar in many respects, the tributes are intentionally obvious, it’s an original piece and it has raised the bar as far as modern thrillers are concerned. It’s actually fairly cliché-free and it certainly can’t be accused of being formulaic.