REVIEW: The Gift (2015)

- By Josh Millican

With The Gift Australian filmmaker and actor Joel Edgerton has essentially launched a new subgenre: Emotional Horror. It won’t satisfy hardcore gore hounds or impatient movie goers, but those willing to commit are taken on an exploration of the Past’s influence on the Present—with shocking results. Like the ancient Chinese method of torture and execution, The Gift is a psychological “Death by 1,000 Cuts”: While no single wound is lethal, a multitude of smaller injuries leads to harrowing devastation—for the characters in the film and those in its audience.

Official Synopsis: A young married couple’s lives are thrown into a harrowing tailspin when an acquaintance from the husband’s past brings mysterious gifts and a horrifying secret to light after more than 20 years.

The Gift is a difficult film—and a difficult film to review; simply scratching the surface creates a risk of spoilers, so forgive me if I tip-toe—because absolutely nothing is as it first appears. The two male leads (Jason Bateman as Simon and Joel Edgerton as Gordon) can’t be categorized into traditional Protagonist and Antagonist roles; each carries traits of a victim and a perpetrator. While analyzing these characters throughout the film, you’re likely to change your opinions several times. Edgerton toys with our initial perceptions good and evil, while simultaneously manipulating any preconceived notions the viewer might bring to the table.

At the risk of sounding like a PSA, The Gift is an indictment of bullying—a topic that seems especially timely. But while mainstream conversations about bullying seem contained to the lives of children and teens exclusively, Edgerton exposes what many still refuse to understand: Even if bullying ends in high school, the affects can last a lifetime. But this kind of oppressive domination doesn’t end at age 18, does it? While some bullies come to regret their past actions and make conscious efforts to change their behaviors, others evolve into something much more sinister. Mature bullies learn how to hide behind masks while practicing denial and deflection; the most loathsome monsters hide behind a smile and phony pretense of righteous compassion.

Every character in the film is a legitimate mystery, and those who relish conjecture will be pleased and challenged. Each is desperately (an ineffectually) attempting to kill their past, willing to see the world implode around them before owning personal misdeeds. People are rarely willing to discuss (or even acknowledge), insidious aspects of friendship, but Edgerton dissects them in all of their gory glory. The Gift will remind you of many inconvenient truths, like the fact that liars are incredibly convincing, deception is commonplace, and bad guys often win.

The most depressing aspect of The Gift is Edgerton’s examination of Truth itself. In a world where perception defines reality, the truth is often overlooked—and sometimes even considered irrelevant. All too often, lies shape our ideas of who people are, corrupting our understanding of the world that surrounds us. And not only on an individual level; societies at large can be significantly derailed by purposeful untruths (like when the US invaded Iraq over nonexistent weapons of mass destruction). Just because The Gift is an incredibly insular film doesn’t mean its assertions can’t be applied to a much wider context.

While some will disagree, I definitely consider The Gift a horror movie. Edgerton proves that a paper cut can sting worse than an amputation, and a bump in the night is way more ominous than a crash of thunder. What happens on screen is often ugly—but much less troubling than what we might have missed while the camera wasn’t looking. Suspense is omnipresent and the simmering tensions can be nauseating. It’s hardly an easy watch. The conclusion won’t leave you sated—anything but. Prepare to wrestle with your understanding of morality, community justice, and the very nature of victimization. You may hate everyone you meet in The Gift, but you’ll never forget these characters or their capacities for cruelty.

Most terrifying to consider: We all know people like these in real-life… some of us are people like these in real-life.

@josh_millican