The Gift
The Gift is a psychological thriller about a bully, his wife and the kid who he bullied. The bully (Simon) and his wife (Robyn) move into a new house and a mysterious former friend of Simon stalks him throughout the movie.
So after they move into the new house, Simon and Robyn go shopping nearby when a mysterious person creeps up on Simon and taps him on his shoulder asking if he knows who he is. His name is Gordo and he used to be a friend of Simon, at least that's what we're led to believe. Robyn comes back and sees the new person and introduces herself. Gordo gives them his number and he also overhears their address at the store which is important later in the movie. The next day Robyn is walking outside and meets the neighbors. Gordo drops off a bottle of wine at Simon and Robyn's new house. She then goes back to their neighbor's house to meet them and their baby. Robyn returns home as she also works at home. When she's walking around the house she sees Gordo peering through the window. She lets him in and Gordo gives her local numbers of useful people. Robyn gives him a tour of the house. She also offers him dinner so Gordo, Robyn, and Simon have dinner which can only be described as the creepiest dinner scene ever. Gordo does leave though after a while.
Simon and Robyn attend a company's office party. Simon shows his wife his office. We find out that stress is a big part of Robyn's life. They get home from the party and there is the pond with fish that Robyn told Gordo she wanted. Next we find out that Gordo's nickname in high school was wierdo. Gordo is at their house yet again in the morning asking about Simon. Robyn lets him in and he fixes her TV and he leaves a note and then leaves. Robyn and Simon go to there neighbors house for dinner also with two other couples. The same night Gordo invites them to his house for a dinner party and Gordo makes something up about the missing people saying they had to cancel last minute. Gordo leaves the house saying it's an urgent call from work. He leaves them alone at his house so naturally they start snooping around his house. Gordo gets back, while he was gone Simon and Robyn find a baby upstairs and they didn't know he was a dad. Gordo tells them he has an ex wife and that there at her house right now. Gordo offers dinner but Simon says they need to talk alone and he ushers his wife out the door. Simon tells Gordo to leave them alone and that he needs to take some time to think about his ex wife.
Robyn and Simon come home to dead fish in there pond. Bojangles there dog is also missing. Simon goes by Gordo's house but it's not his house he was using someone's random house. Next Robyn is in the house we hear a noise and see it's the faucet in the bathroom it's turned on and she didn't turn it on. Robyn steals medicine from her neighbors house and we see her taking the pills later that night. Next we see a letter in the mail the next morning. The letter is from Gordo and it says he's sorry and that they won't see him again. We later see Robyn having a nightmare about Gordo. We can visually see how Robyn is getting more and more stressed out. She has an anxiety attack and faints. She wakes up and she and Simon converse over coffee. Simon show Robyn the pills. She blames her usage of pills on Gordo and on the house. She asks what bygones be bygones mean which was in the letter. Simon deflects the question and says they they need to let this go and not to look back. We see a time flies sequence and Robyn is pregnant. She is at the store when she sees Gordo staring through the window. This is his first appearance stalking one of them for a while. We find out that Gordo was molested and that Simon was the first to report it this coming from someone who went to the same high school. Robyn finds a folder on Gordo that Simon made and had locked up in a file cabinet at home. She visits Greg a friend of Simon who was with Simon when they reported the molestation. Greg says the molestation story was made up. He says that Simon made it up and he also calls him a bully, he says Simon ruined his life.
We then find out Gordo's dad tried to kill him. Robyn slaps Simon and calls him a bully. Simon says he can't find Gordo even if he wanted to apologize to him. Robyn shows the background check in response. She also says that she doesn't know who he is anymore. Simon tracks down Gordo and gives him a half hearted apology. Gordo doesn't accept the apology and delivers the best line of the movie "your done with the past but the past isn't done with you". Simon beats Gordo up since he won't accept his apology and then he leaves. Simon then goes home and lies again saying that Gordo accepted his apology. Next Danny McDonald whose job Simon was competing for shows up at Simons party saying that Simon cost him his job. Robyn has her baby later that same night. Simon finds out he is fired for planting false evidence on Danny. Next we see Simon visiting Robyn at the hospital. She tells him that she is not going back to the house, she says it again but this time adds "with you" at the end. Simon gets home and sees a huge gift at the doorstep. Gordo visits Robyn at the hospital but she is asleep. Later she wake up and Gordo says congrats. Simon opens the gift and it's a baby's crate and there is mini gifts in the crate. One of the mini presents is a key to Simons house. The next mini present is audio recording on a cd of Simon talking about Gordo when he was at his dinner party. The final mini present is a film recorded on a dvd. There is different shots of him filming them at night and eating dinner and Robyn sleeping. Then the final part of the film is Gordo implying he raped Robyn when she fainted and that it's his baby in the hospital.
We then see Simon rushing out the door and getting back to the hospital as fast as possible. He gets to the hospital and sees Gordo getting on an elevator the elevator door closes. Simon runs down the stairs but now he's not on the elevator. Simon goes outside, he gets a phone call it's Gordo saying he'll tell Robyn if he doesn't. We then see Simon go back into the hospital looking through the glass window looking at his wife's baby looking into its eyes to see if it's his or Gordo's. The curtain closes and Simon crumbles to the floor and sobs. We see Gordo watching Simon but then he leaves when he sees Simons reaction.
I thought the cast was solid. Jason Bateman and Joel Edgerton were great in their roles. The story is simple but not cliche and has a lot of unpredictable moments. The characters are pretty basic but portrayed well by the actors. For a first time director this is an impressive debut. The score was creepy and intense. The writing was also good.
