The Gift.
Released: August 2015. Runtime: 108 mins. Rated: R for language.
The “dog days” of late summer often bring to theatres movies
that are “dogs”--sometimes ones with big budgets—but also movies with real
bite, even on small budgets. The Gift
is among the latter. Written by, directed by, co-produced by and costarring
Joel Edgerton, the film emanates a psychological chill that can add to the
physiological chill of any theatre's air-conditioning system. Moviegoers will
note elements from other films—including classics by Hitchcock and Polanski and
European thrillers such as With a Friend
Like Harry and Cache—in The Gift, but Edgerton and his costars
Rebecca Hall and Jason Bateman make everything seem fresh.
Bateman and Hall are Simon and Robyn, a yuppie couple in
their 30s, who move from Chicago back to the Los Angeles area, where Simon was
raised, so that he can pursue the possibility of a substantially better
corporate position. Robyn, who is somewhat frail psychologically and very
desirous of having a baby, plans to work out of their home. By chance the
couple encounters Gordo (Edgerton), a sad sack of a fellow, who claims to know
Simon from high school days. Simon at first says that he does not recall Gordo,
but later he tells Robyn that he now remembers Gordo and that he was a
“weirdo.” Gordo seeks to befriend the couple and keeps leaving gifts for them.
Robyn is sympathetic toward Gordo, but Simon seeks to end their contact with
him.
That doesn't prove to be easy, and though Faulkner's famous
saying that “the past isn't dead; it isn't even past” is not mentioned in the
film, it becomes the theme as very strange things start happening—strange and
violent things that provide the audience with some notable scares. What is most
scary, however, is not any specific happening, but the truth about the
characters that is gradually revealed, culminating in a haunting climax.
Edgerton wears his many “hats” with skill. Bateman, usually
seen in comedies, shows dramatic “chops.” And the lovely Hall, who has been
excellent in everything that she has ever been in, keeps up that record by
embodying a character who turns weakness into strength.
“Footnote” to the film: One of the theatres showing The Gift is at the site of the former
Showcase/Rave Cinemas in North Haven. The Showcase/Rave multiplex has now been
demolished and replaced by the 14-screen Cineplex. Among its new features, the
Cineplex sells a wide array of beers in its lobby and has padded easy chairs in
its auditoriums. The chairs have footrests as well as controls that allow for
various positionings of each chair. The chairs also have armrests that can be
folded up so as to allow for closer contact, if desired, between patrons in
adjoining seats. (A boon to daters!) Also, when a ticket is purchased, a seat
must be chosen by means of a computer gizmo located in front of the cashier.
This device shows the location of the seats in each auditorium and which ones
have been taken up to that point.
