We live for those surprises - the ones you never saw coming. Films you'd never really heard of, that had virtually no advance word, that come out of nowhere and knock you for a loop. If you're a fan of thrillers and like having your expectations wildly surpassed, go seek out The Gift immediately.
As presented by the marketing, you're in for an obsessive stalker threat-to-the-family nail-biter that hearkens back to Fatal Attraction or Pacific Heights. And there's no reason you shouldn't just go on thinking that. It's produced by Jason Blum, so it must be a straight-up horror shocker, right? A happy suburban couple (Rebecca Hall and Jason Bateman) moves into their new home, only to run into a dimly-remembered old classmate from the husband's high school days - Gordo, played by Joel Edgerton. Seems like a nice enough guy, but soon his eagerness to reconnect leads beyond the token housewarming gift to showing up at their home unannounced, leading to - what, exactly?
And this, my friends, is where I leave you. Because if The Gift is anything, it's about surprise, and about things being very, very different than appearances would have you assume.
In addition to playing Gordo, Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Zero Dark Thirty) also wrote and directed The Gift, and it's simply brilliant. Not a word I toss around lightly. As a creator, Edgerton establishes himself here as a master craftsman of suspense. He does a phenomenal job of subverting genre expectations and using conventions against the norm to unnerve the audience. Cinematographer Eduard Grau is a wicked conspirator, who knows how to use space to manipulate mood.
Bateman is amazing here. I made a lot of assumptions based on seeing his name in the credits and his character work here is complex and redefining. But Rebecca Hall is a revelation, and joins Rebecca Ferguson and Alicia Vikander in delivering one of the three best breakout parts of the year. It's a quiet, layered performance, and she does a remarkable job of leading the audience down paths we never expected.
But it's Joel Edgerton who's the man. To possess the confidence and objectivity to inhabit a lead role in your debut shot as a director, that's a guy with a lot of control and discipline. The Gift will unnerve you in a major way, while never insulting your intelligence or stooping to cheap shocks. Put this one right up there next to Prisoners and The Guest on your list of stealthy, must-see films that know how to mess with you in the best possible way. Very, very highly recommended.
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