The Gift movie review & film summary (2015)

Jason Bateman, known mainly for his comedic roles, gives a beautiful and focused performance as the ambitious Simon, worried about his wife, and furious at Gordo's omnipresence. Bateman manages to be both kindly and condescending, sometimes in the same moment. Simon has a temper, Simon struggles to be patient, Simon is funny and considerate. But the dynamic with Gordo opens up other aspects of his personality, things Robyn has never seen before. Rebecca Hall's performance is open and sympathetic, suggesting pain in her past, pain she has worked hard to overcome. Being nice to Gordo, and patient, is the right thing to do. Simon is right, though: Gordo does seem "odd," and Robyn comes off as naive and too trusting. You want to tell her to read Gavin de Becker's The Gift of Fear. And Edgerton, wearing three different hats in "The Gift," as director, writer, and actor, dials down any impulse to act overtly threatening or villainous. He's scary, but again, in a way you can't quite classify.

We've probably all known awkward people who can't "take a hint." There are people who can't sense when a conversation is over, who miss social cues, who are tone-deaf to the subtleties of human behavior. Gordo appears to be one of those people. Robyn feels sorry for him, thinks Simon should be nicer to him. And yet .. and yet ... Robyn starts to become terrified in her own home. She thinks she hears the front door opening, but then there's no one there. She can't sleep. An abyss opens up between Robyn and Simon. Distrust and suspicion have entered their marriage, the snake in the garden.

"The Gift" uses the tricks of the thriller trade well, but why it really works is that it withholds the necessary information until almost the very end. Robyn's journey of confusion and terror is our own. We want to know what is around that corner at the end of the hallway, what is out there in the dark, what is back there in the past. When she finally sees it, when she finally understands, the horror is worse than what we imagined.

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