I was sure wrong about The Gift. Trailers and advertisements have marketed the film as one of those generic psychological thrillers that may be heavy on plot and dull on characters but this is not what The Gift was. In fact, the characters Simon (Jason Bateman), Robyn (Rebecca Hall) and Gordo (Joel Edgerton) are so well crafted from the script, they will still sit in your head hours after watching actor turned director Joel Edgerton's successful debut.
In The Gift, the story is about a man named Simon and his wife Robyn move into a new California home from Chicago and encounter a man named Gordon "Gordo" Mosley from Simon's High School past. Gordo begins to force a friendship on the couple by giving gifts but Simon doesn't want this man in his life because of Gordo's awkwardness and past as a "weirdo" in school. The Gift is essentially about the past. The actions one person did in the past and whether or not one should move on and forget about it. A line is spoken in the film, "Let bygones be bygones". This line or saying that puts itself as the theme of the film. I thought the character of Gordo was excellently played by Joel Edgerton, the director and writer of the film. He turned what could have been a generic stalker-villain caricature and made him a real human being the audience can empathize with. Having said that, the main character Simon can be viewed as a villain himself.
Of all the movies that released in late July and August 2015, I recommend checking out the Gift. It's a film that cares about a story it wants to tell and characters it feels to explore. No explosions. No spectacle. Just great storytelling.
In The Gift, the story is about a man named Simon and his wife Robyn move into a new California home from Chicago and encounter a man named Gordon "Gordo" Mosley from Simon's High School past. Gordo begins to force a friendship on the couple by giving gifts but Simon doesn't want this man in his life because of Gordo's awkwardness and past as a "weirdo" in school. The Gift is essentially about the past. The actions one person did in the past and whether or not one should move on and forget about it. A line is spoken in the film, "Let bygones be bygones". This line or saying that puts itself as the theme of the film. I thought the character of Gordo was excellently played by Joel Edgerton, the director and writer of the film. He turned what could have been a generic stalker-villain caricature and made him a real human being the audience can empathize with. Having said that, the main character Simon can be viewed as a villain himself.
Of all the movies that released in late July and August 2015, I recommend checking out the Gift. It's a film that cares about a story it wants to tell and characters it feels to explore. No explosions. No spectacle. Just great storytelling.
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